by 
Monica Kelsey, Founder/ CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, Inc has backed away (with a cautionary stipulation) from a major provision of SB345 enacted in 2023. The provision authorized as an “option” the instant removal of a SH/SHBB baby from trad SH walk-in or box drop location into the private adoption spammer with no stop along the way. That is, allowed officials at SH/SBBB locations the “option” to transfer babies directly from their hands to a private adoption agency of their choice–without DCS knowledge of the drop-off–and within hours into the immediate loving arms of their “forever family”
To keep things clear, let’s first take a look at a summary of the SB345 law before we go any farther. Besides the baby selling aspect, the bill also included gross violations of parental rights and due process, but today’s blog focuses only on the fast-track-monetary issue.
SB345 gives the option to a the emergency medical services provider to notify either the department of child services (department) or a licensed child placing agency to take custody of a safe haven infant. Provides distinct procedures for termination of parent-child relationship involving a safe haven infant. Requires the department’s attorney or a licensed child placing agency to file a petition to terminate the parent-child relationship not later than 15 days after taking custody of the safe haven infant. Requires a licensed child placing agency to place the safe haven infant with a preapproved foster care provider. Provides that both parents’ consent to termination of the parent-child relationship is irrevocably implied without further court action if, after at least 28 days, neither parent petitioned the court for custody. Provides that notice is not required for safe haven infants. Prohibits the court from inquiring about the reason for the parents’ absence. Adds safe haven infants to the list of exceptions to required preservation and reunification efforts.
The original SB345 discussion covered ONLY Box Babies and specified 1 adoption agency in the state on a pilot basis but was changed to cover trad SH babies and to add a list of child placing agencies approved by the state.
No matter…For anyone but the most obtuse, it was clear from the start that this bill was rife for abuse and corruption. Bastard Nation/Stop Safe Haven Boxes (here, here, and here)) and The Adoptee Rights Law Center testified pointing out the obvious danger of newborn baby sales that would turn Indiana into the newborn trafficking center of the United States– not to mention the extraordinary profit selected adoption agencies would make from the deal. (Also see Indiana State page for videos and news.)
Attorney Greg Luce, founder/director of the Adoptee Rights Laws Center and expert flow chart designer, even furnished Indiana lawmakers with this nifty chart detailing how this would go down:
Indiana lawmakers and SHBB Inc, however, insisted that rendering newborns invisible immediately after boxing and letting fire department officials decide who in their individual non-professional opinion could best handle care and placement is OK: their cousin down the road who runs an adoption agency and will charge $40,000, $50,000, or more to move the infant (and maybe send off a friendly finder’s fee) or DCS. with its mandated documentation process and low fee-responsibilities.
This fast-track scheme was presented in “best interest of the child” language to enable baby and brand new stranger parents to “bond quickly” and “assure” the dangerous but loving “relinquishing” mother that the baby wouldn’t “linger” at the hospital for a few days. It would also save the state money by passing off the cost of care and legalities to adoption agencies and ultimately to the adoptive parents that would be bilked for even more money than they already were. The bill passed in the House 142-46 and 48-2 in the Senate and went into effect on July 1, 2023.
We already knew from news reports that the baby girl dropped off at the Carmel, Indiana Fire Station #1 on August 27, 2023 was sent to her new family without state vetting within 12 hours of box delivery. According to Mrs Kelsey a second newborn was spammed, but have no details.
In the past Mrs. Kelsey has complained about the high cost of adoption but never linked that complaint to SH/SHBB cases. It sounds likes she’s lately talked to Box Baby adoptive parents who paid 10s of thousands of dollars beyond what they would have paid had DCS been allowed to handle the cases.
A few days ago, Mrs Kelsey posted a TikTok in which she condemned Indiana adoption agencies for boosting their non-profit profits through SHBB cases. She did not suggest that they be barred from the adoption agency scheme, or that the scheme die, but said that a fee cap of $10,000-$16,000 should be placed on agency fees. She announced that SHBB Inc, from now on will not support any SHBB bill anywhere that has an adoption agency provision that exceeds that amount.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Kelsey did not call out the Indiana adoption agency/agencies by name, and we have no idea which predators have sucked tens of thousands of dollars out of 2 sets of “waiting parents” or for how much. Well, we have a guess who the varmint(s) might be but won’t say anything unless we can prove it.
In case you are wondering how this handover from fire-department-to adoption-agency-to -“forever- home” is real and how it works, here it is from the horse’s mouth–John Moriarty, retired Fire Chief of the Carmel, Indiana Fire Department and current Division Chief of Community Relations:
This snip is taken from the February 24, 2025 debut edition of Mrs. Kelsey’s Beyond the Box podcast. The link includes a printed transcript of the entire show–and either listening or reading–tells you a whole lot you wanted (or didn’t want) to know about how baby boxing works.
We don’t know the average cost of an adoption of a newborn or infant through appropriate government agencies in any state, so we can’t comment on the reasonableness of Mrs. Kelsey’s cap. The number of Boxed Babies is small, so we can say that predatory adoption agencies have no compunction about sinking their claws into potential adopters’ bank accounts digging as deep and hard as they can. The Indiana legislature, by permitting fire chiefs or other non-professional, untrained individuals to decide that a SH/SHBB case does not have to be reported to DCS, and can be transferred to a private adoption agency for whatever reason–is playing a dangerous game of child trafficking, giving a financial gift to selected private agencies, and continuing the long history of the abrogation of the civil rights of babies and mothers caught on the spokes of the adoption wheel. Some, like SSHBBN, call it criminal neglect.
Our greatest desire is for baby abandonment boxes to be abolished. But in the meantime let’s get adoption agencies barred from all SH/SHBB procedures in Indiana and other states. That said, we hope not only that Mrs. Kelsey follows through on her cap decision elsewhere but we challenge her to go to the Indiana Legislature next session to put the cap on there. If she believes that predatory adoption agencies will settle for a cap, however, then she doesn’t understand the adoption industry or how adoption works.
Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
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Special thanks to Greg Luce!
Written in 2 sessions of the London Writers Hour
Does anyone think Ms. Kelsey did not know about this provision? Follow the money, people!