Mission

The Safe Haven Baby Box Story.

In August of 1972, a 17-year-old girl was brutally attacked, raped, and left for dead on the side of the road. She pressed charges against her assaulter, and he was arrested and charged, only to find out six weeks later that she was pregnant. Her own mother advised her to pursue a back-alley abortion, and as she stood in front of the man who was about to do the procedure, the young woman changed her mind. She was hidden from the outside world for the remainder of the pregnancy and abandoned her baby at a small hospital in Ohio just two hours after giving birth.

This abandoned baby was Monica Kelsey–and this is where the story of Safe Haven Baby Boxes began.

After spending years in the military and working as an emergency responder, Monica Kelsey took a trip to Cape Town, South Africa, where she was exposed to her first “baby box.” The experience, coupled with her own history as an abandoned infant, ignited a profound and new sense of purpose for her. Determined to make a difference, Monica founded Safe Haven Baby Boxes, transforming her personal journey into a mission to save lives and support mothers in crisis.

The organization's primary goal is to raise awareness of the Safe Haven Law through a variety of educational initiatives, public speaking engagements, and direct care provided to parents in crisis. SHBB operates a 24-hour national hotline where women can receive counseling and assistance at the moment it matters most. To date, the hotline has received over 9,000 calls and has helped parents in every state in the United States, including referring over 500 women to crisis pregnancy centers, assisting in 10 adoption referrals, and facilitating over 150 legal Safe Haven surrenders. In our home state of Indiana, the first box was installed in April of 2016. Since then, there has not been a single dead abandoned infant in the state. The last one, Baby Amelia, whose footprint is honored in our logo, serves as a poignant reminder of our mission’s importance. Our ongoing efforts have saved lives, and we work daily to make sure that no child is abandoned.