Lawmakers in the 2018 session want to spread the use of so-called “baby boxes” in Indiana. New legislation would expand last year’s law that legalized the devices meant to serve as a more anonymous way for someone to leave an unwanted newborn.
The 2017 law legalized baby boxes in hospitals and grandfathered in the state’s two existing devices, both in firehouses.
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Sen. Travis Holdman (R-Markle), the law’s author, wants to allow the expansion of baby boxes into all firehouses that are staffed 24-7.
“Volunteer fire departments, professional firefighters are all skilled as EMTs in most all cases and so those folks would be able to provide that emergency care for an infant,” Holdman says.
The Department of Child Services opposed the 2017 law and called baby boxes untested. The agency – under new leadership – hasn’t weighed in on this session’s measure.
No Indiana hospitals have installed a baby box since the passage of last year’s law.
