NAM/NAAM Day 18: Was Safe Haven Baby Boxes Inc's Monica Kelsey Dangerously Discarded?

For a long time I have questioned some of the origin story of Monical Kelsey, the CEO/founder of SHBB Inc. I believe that much of it is true as told, but there is some artful dodging at the same time.

One thing that has really bothered me for years is her narrative that she was abandoned at the hospital by her mother 2 hours after birth . She tells this story at every baby box blessing that I’ve watched from Day 1, and recently in an interview on Nightly Scroll with Haley on the Boningo Report Channel (yes THAT Boningo!) No one has ever asked for clarification.

Exact words (4:15 marker)

When her life was finally getting back to normal, she found out she was pregnant, and she was hidden for the remainder of the pregnancy, and then gave birth in April of 1973 and abandoned her child two hours after that child was born, and that child was me, so I literally stand on the front lines of the pro life movement and the abandonment movement as one of these kids that wasn’t lovingly and safely and legally and anonymously, you know, saved in a safe haven baby box by a parent that wanted me, but this is my legacy, and I’m now their voice. I’m the voice for these moms who who choose something safe for their child, but sometimes just need a little help, and so I’m trying to be what my birth mom didn’t have back in 1973...

,,,..So I was abandoned at a hospital in Montpelier, Ohio, which was a small community in Williams County. And I literally, after I found all of this out, I went searching, and I got to know Montpelier Ohio, pretty well, but yeah, Montpellier, Ohio, at the hospital, there a little girl back on April 19, 1973 was left

The key phrase: “at the hospital.” No dumpster, No ditch. At the hospital.

Scnearios:

born at the hospital and her mother left hours 2 later; thus, making her a boarder baby.
born somewhere else and dropped off at the hospital

Despite what people might think, both scenarios were common back then, as far as this type of thing goes. A friend of mine fostered an abandoned baby for more than a year through her local Catholic Charities. When the baby was cleared for adoption, CC removed him from their custody without warning after they filed to adopt him–a stupid social service practice of the day. They dropped out of the foster program and quit the Catholic Church over it. Years later, they located him somehow, and they had a relationship.

I can find no reports indicating that a baby was discarded in Williams County, Ohio, on or around the date of Mrs Kelsey’s birth–or anywhere else in the country. A boarder baby (newborn left at hospital after the mother is discharged with no intention of returning) even in Montpelier, Ohio, though an isolated one-off, would not make it into the newspapers, though gossip might circulate in town. A discarded newborn would. be news.

Here’s the rub.

If Ms. Kelsey were born in the hospital, then she was born under safe conditions, whereas most of her box babies are not. She admits freely that nearly all of them are born unattended, away from a hospital or birthing center, and often arrive in her boxes with placentas attached. Obviously, even if her mother walked out 2 hoursafter giving birth, she underwent an attended delivery and received post-natal care. She was not alone like the current crop of baby boxers.

Mrs. Kelsey’s hook is her story: she was discarded. If there was no discard, that pulls out the sting–the gotcha’– creating a skewed narrative. Boarder babies are not unattended births. and are not endangered. They do not have a dumpster story. I really don’t know why no one asks about this. Adopted people have a nose for this kind of story, and it’s certainly a question that for years has been bantered and batted around Adoption Land.

Is Mrs. Kelsey a boarder baby? If I am wrong I will own it, but where is the documentation.

____________

While Mrs. Kelsey has told her origin story hundreds of time, I’m posting the interview. below. It’s a good interview, not in the sense that critical hard questions were asked, but that it’s a quick background source and even offers clarification in some areas.

clears up the case of the 3-month old baby that was boxed, outside of Indiana law specs a a few years ago. DCF declared the baby abandoned and located the mother.
support for a uniform 30-60 day age limit throughout the country
concerns about states that place box babies with adoption agencies directly. “hTe famiy is paying for a baby.” This is something Mrs. Kelsey and I agree on.

And what about this line: ” we understand that a baby being handed over to someone is safer than lpacing a baby in a box?

The interview was done live and posted on November, 11. The last publicly reported box case was October 16, in Racine Wisconsin,. For the last few weeks , however, Mrs Kelsey has said that 71 babies have been boxed, #71 , however, according to my records, has not been announced., She flip-flops back to 70 in the interview.

BTW<SHBB Inc as not the first contemporary attempt at baby boxes. Pomona Valley Hospital in California had one for years, though I don’t know if it was used. It is no longer there.