“In a perfect world they wouldn’t exist”
INDIANAPOLIS. From the outside it looks like a mailbox.
The hatch is not intended for packages – but for mothers who want to anonymously abandon their newborn babies.
– Otherwise, babies would die in garbage cans, says Monica Kelsey, 49, who started the box initiative.
The boy was no more than an hour old.
He was wrapped in a red and black checkered blanket and placed in the box, along with a letter from his mother. “Born at 9:38 p.m.,” the note said.
The hatch was closed. Automatically locked from outside.
Sensors alerted the fire station that a child had been placed in the baby box.
The firemen knew the purpose of the hatch. Still, they were overcome with shock when they turned on the lamp:
There lay a living boy of a lifetime.
Today the lint tot Samuel has just turned two.
He stands on tiptoe to look in the box where he was abandoned by his biological mother on a late October evening in 2020.
– I don’t think you can fit in there anymore, says Kimberly Barkman, 37, and pats him on the head.
She and husband Nicholas Barkman had long struggled with infertility. Today they have adopted Samuel.
At two weeks old, he moved into their home in Indianapolis.
– I think the boxes are great, regardless of what abortion laws we have; restrictive or not. It’s an option for women in crisis, says Kimberly.
There are a total of 125 baby boxes around the United States.
The majority – 90 of them – are here, in their home state of Indiana.
There are a total of 125 baby boxes in the US. Photo: Nora Savosnick
Indiana has become the epicenter of the baby box because of the “baby box woman”, Monica Kelsey.
For her, the fight is personal. She was herself adopted, after being abandoned by a highway.
Her mother was raped as a 17-year-old. Wanted to have an underground abortion, at a time when abortions were illegal in the US.
She relented at the last moment, according to Kelsey. And left the daughter to die by the side of the road.
– And thanks to my life being saved, I can now save others, she says.
She wants to make it easier for mothers in need to safely and anonymously abandon their children.
The alternative, according to Kelsey, is for the children to be left to die in dangerous places, such as garbage cans and roadsides.
“Does not take a stand”
Abandoned children are found every three days in the United States, says Kelsey.
She came up with the idea after seeing similar boxes during a trip to Cape Town. Three years later, she started the organization Safe Haven Baby Boxes.
On the website, she writes that she “stands on the front line to defend innocent children who are subjected to abortion and abandonment”. She is frequently hired as a so-called “pro-life” speaker and the boxes are financed, among other things, by Catholic movements that are against abortion.
But when asked if the boxes are seen as an alternative to abortion, she gets upset.
– Of course I have an opinion. But the organization, Safe Haven Baby Boxes, is not taking a stand. The parents who leave the children in boxes have already made the decision that the children will live.
Kimberly and Nicholas Barkman with their son Samuel and Monica Kelsey. Photo: Nora Savosnick
This summer, the US Supreme Court overturned the national abortion law, “Roe v. Wade”. Since then, a dozen states have largely outlawed abortions, even in cases of incest and rape.
Indiana was the first to enact a blanket ban on abortion after Roe was overturned. The law has been temporarily blocked by the court.
In the US midterm elections on November 8, the right to abortion is at stake in several states. The issue is one of the most important in the election, after the economy, when Americans choose governors and members of Congress.
President Joe Biden has vowed to push for a national abortion rights bill if Democrats retain power in Congress, to hammer it through.
Something that probably won’t happen.
The Republicans have a tailwind when the economy dominates as an election issue.
At the same time, they have underestimated how popular the right to abortion is in large parts of the country. The issues are also considered to be connected – abortion is often a financial issue, for those who do not feel they can take care of a child.
The stakes are therefore sky high in the upcoming midterm elections for those who do not want to see restricted abortion rights.
With fewer abortion rights, experts believe more and more babies will be abandoned in the United States.
Samuel was left in a so-called baby box by his biological mother on a late October evening in 2020. Photo: Nora Savosnick
For Michelle Oberman, law professor in California, expert on ethical issues surrounding pregnancy and motherhood, and author of the book “Her body, our laws – On the front lines of the abortion war”, it is clear that the baby boxes are connected to the abortion resistance.
– How can there not be a connection? The baby boxes received very little publicity and funding before, she says.
For conservatives, adoption has long been marketed as an alternative to abortion.
They want to save lives, at any cost, argue those who call themselves “pro-life”.
The opposing side instead believes that a woman has the right to decide over her body, “pro-choice”. And that an embryo is not “a life” until it can survive outside the womb.
A class issue
Professor Oberman believes that the baby boxes are the only coherent response from the right-wing pro-life movement so far.
– There hasn’t been a plethora of laws to support poor women – child support, guaranteed parental leave, subsidized preschool, she says.
– Those who call themselves “pro life” have thus not agreed on what obligations the state has to support parents who are inclined to terminate pregnancies because they cannot afford more children.
Abortions are often a class issue in the United States: 75 percent of abortions are performed by the poor or those near the poverty line, according to The Guttmacher Institute.
– We don’t talk about that. Instead, the solution is: “please, leave the baby in a box”. So that we can adopt them outside the adoption system, without medical background, without regulations enacted to protect everyone involved. Instead; a dropoff box, which allows us to take all shortcuts in the system, says Oberman.
Since those who abandon the children are anonymous, there is very little information about who they are and why they abandon the children.
It is unclear whether the persons had really wanted to have an abortion. It is likely women in crisis. Who are isolated, who gave birth at home and have kept the pregnancy secret, says Oberman.
Regardless, Oberman thinks you should focus on the root of the problem. Poverty, parental leave and other rights.
The box children are a sign that women who may be stuck in a violent relationship, have poor finances, struggle with addiction have fallen through the cracks in a limping safety net.
– The idea that we respond to the abortion issue by putting out a box, rather than saying “let’s make it possible for the poor to let them raise children”. It should be a cross-party issue.
– In Sweden you have child support, health insurance, a social safety net. What idiot country other than the USA has such a broken social system that we encourage people to put their children in a box?
The baby boxes in the US are financed, among other things, by Catholic movements that are against abortion. Photo: Nora Savosnick
The concept of children’s boxes is old. They date back to the Middle Ages, when barrels were placed next to hospitals, churches and orphanages.
– In a perfect world, they wouldn’t exist. But that’s not how the world looks, says baby box woman Monica Kelsey in defense of the boxes.
They don’t just have the boxes. Without even a national emergency line you can call, around the clock. They take calls from all over the US even though the boxes are only in seven states.
The boxes of last resort
They receive close to 800 calls per year. Around two per day.
Everyone has different stories, but common to all conversations is that they are women in crisis.
Some call in a panic, when they have just found out they are pregnant.
– They are not our expertise. Our focus is those who have gone through pregnancy, in crisis, who may have a baby in their lap. “I have given birth, I don’t know what to do, no one can find out anything”.
Primarily, Monica says, they direct the women to charity, where they can get financial help. Then adoption. Then to leave the child with healthcare personnel.
And last but not least: the boxes.
– If we don’t give them the option, where they can be anonymous, but save the child’s life, then we will find that child in a container.
– We don’t want to make decisions for anyone else. I want them to make the decision, because they have to be comfortable with the decision, not me.
A total of 21 children have been left in the boxes since the organization Safe Haven Baby Boxes was started in 2016. The number has increased every year.
This year alone, seven children have been left in the boxes. Most so far.
“Because my life was saved, I can now save others,” says “baby box woman” Monica Kelsey. Photo: Nora Savosnick
Abandoning babies anywhere is illegal in the United States.
But a “safe haven”, or so-called “safe haven” law decriminalizes the act, if the child is handed over directly into the hands of medical personnel, police or firefighters.
The Surrender Act was specifically mentioned by Trump-appointed Judge Amy Coney Barrett as an alternative to abortion before the Supreme Court struck down the national abortion guarantee.
The law was passed in Texas in 1999 after several women left abandoned babies in dumpsters and dumpsters. The other 49 states followed suit.
In the past five years, twelve states have passed laws allowing baby cribs or expanded their safe haven laws.
But not all states are in favor of the expansion of the boxes. In Michigan, the governor stopped the boxes because he felt they were not appropriate.
Existing safe haven laws are enough, he believed.
In California, unlike in Indiana, baby surrenders must be done face to face. And parents are given a voluntary questionnaire about their health, which often reveals serious problems like substance abuse.
It is impossible to say what the fate of the abandoned children would have been had the boxes not been found. Some might have died, others adopted, others might have been kept.
“Saves lives”
As Danish politicians signaled interest in the boxes, Denmark’s national welfare research center, Vive, researched its effectiveness in 2018.
They concluded that the number of abandoned children found outdoors not decreased through baby boxes.
On the contrary, the number of abandoned children could increase.
Indiana firebrand Monica Kelsey disagrees. She maintains that women must have the option to avoid facing uniformed personnel.
They save lives, she claims.
At the same time, they can never guarantee that no one will give up their child under duress, notes Kelsey. So far, one person has claimed their child back.
In five years, she hopes the boxes will have spread to all 50 states. Texas in particular would be an important location for expansion.
– They had 22 surrenders last year alone. 22 dead children. It is completely unacceptable. And they have a safe haven law. So why don’t these moms go in to staff and hand the kids over?
Do you think that the boxes will be used more and more now that the abortion laws are tightened in large parts of the country?
– That is the big question. I don’t think any of us knows what will happen, says Monica.
– We are ready if there is an increase in babies in our country, to help those mothers and those children. I will continue, regardless of whether the abortion laws affect the number of abandonments, or not.
“In Indiana, we have zero abandoned children who have died since the boxes were installed,” says Nicholas Barkman.
Two-year-old Samuel climbs into the fire engine at the station where he was abandoned in the box. The teddy bear can sit in the passenger seat.
Then he climbs onto the lap of his adoptive mother, Kimberly.
She says there may be a connection between the abortion bans and the boxes. And regardless, think that the baby boxes are a good alternative.
– The abortion issue has become so politicized. Everyone gets educated. I think this can make both sides come together, and support the boxes.
– They are “pro life” for the child. But “pro-choice” for women who can choose. Circumstances, in a relationship or financially, can change after the pregnancy announcement. If you have already passed a certain number of weeks, it may be too late for an abortion.
Her husband Nicholas fills in.
– And it has worked. In Indiana, we have zero abandoned children who have died since the boxes were installed.
He picks up the mobile phone and shows the paper from Samuel’s biological mother.
A hastily written message, torn from a notepad.
There she writes that she had no other way out.
“Please make sure he is safe, cared for and loved. He deserves everything I wish I could give him”.
Nora Savosnick and Emelie Svensson on location in Indianapolis, USA.