COOLSPRING TOWNSHIP, Ind. (WOOD) — A package of bills making its way through the Michigan Legislature would allow for baby boxes at places like fire departments where parents could give up newborns.
Under Michigan's Safe Delivery of Newborns Law, which went into effect in 2000, parents can already legally surrender babies to emergency personnel like police, firefighters or hospital workers with 72 hours of the child's birth. An amendment to that law passed by the state House of Representatives earlier this month would increase that time to 30 days.
The bills OK'd by the House also set regulations for the installation and use of baby boxes.
A couple such devices are already in use in Indiana. One of them is at the Coolspring Township Fire Department near Michigan City, where two babies have been dropped off since it was installed more than two years ago.
"We don't judge, we don't want to know anything about it. It's a tool to us to help save lives," Coolspring Township Assistant Fire Chief Warren Smith told 24 Hour News 8. "This is a great alternative for the parents instead of throwing them in the fence row, throwing them in the dumpster."
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