Indiana’s Safe Haven Law vs. Making an Adoption Plan: What Is the Difference?

By: Grant Kirsh

If you are in crisis with a newborn, you may have heard about Indiana’s Safe Haven Law and the Safe Haven Baby Boxes located around the state. Safe Haven is a real, legal option that exists to keep babies safe, and we respect it. But many mothers do not realize there is another path that gives both them and their baby much more: a private adoption plan.

At Kirsh & Kirsh, P.C., a family-run Indiana adoption law firm with nearly 50 years of experience, we want you to understand both options clearly so you can choose what is right for you.

What Is Indiana’s Safe Haven Law?

Indiana’s Safe Haven Law allows a person to surrender an unharmed infant anonymously, without fear of arrest or prosecution. Under the law as recently expanded, a baby up to 60 days old can be surrendered at locations such as hospitals, fire stations, and police stations, or placed in a Safe Haven Baby Box, a safety device installed at staffed locations that alerts first responders the moment a baby is placed inside. Indiana has more of these boxes than any other state.

After a Safe Haven surrender, the baby is checked at a hospital and taken into the custody of the Indiana Department of Child Services, which places the child with a caregiver and begins the process of finding the child a permanent home.

Safe Haven exists so that no baby is ever abandoned in an unsafe place. If you are ever in a moment of crisis where Safe Haven is the only way to keep your baby safe, use it.

What Safe Haven Cannot Give You

Because Safe Haven surrender is anonymous, it comes with real trade-offs. You do not choose who raises your baby. You receive no letters, no photos, and no updates, ever. Your child enters the foster care system rather than going straight home with a family you selected. You receive no counseling, no financial help (up to $4,000 in living expenses), and no support for your own recovery. And your child grows up without your medical history or the story of where they came from.

What an Adoption Plan Gives You Instead

With a private adoption plan through Kirsh & Kirsh, P.C., everything above changes. You choose the family from our more than 100 carefully screened waiting families. All of our families commit to letters and photos for at least 18 years at minimum. Your baby goes directly from you to the family you chose, never into foster care. You can receive financial help with living expenses under Indiana Code 35-46-1-9, plus medical costs and transportation outside that cap, and counseling covered 100% by the adoptive family. Our services are 100% free to you, and you will almost certainly never have to step foot in a courtroom.

And here is something many mothers do not know: an adoption plan can be nearly as private as Safe Haven. You can do everything by phone and text. Closed adoption is your choice, not the family’s. But unlike Safe Haven, the door to updates stays open if you ever want it.

Already Home With Your Baby?

Safe Haven applies to very young infants, but adoption has no such limit. If your baby is already weeks or months old and you are struggling, we can still help. We have completed many placements for mothers after they brought their babies home, just in the last six months. Time is of the essence, so call sooner rather than later.

One Phone Call Before You Decide

If you are standing at the edge of a Safe Haven decision, please make one phone call first. We answer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. In the time it takes to drive to a baby box, we can show you a different path that keeps your baby safe and keeps you in the story. There is no judgment here either way.

Whether you are in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville, South Bend, Carmel, Fishers, Bloomington, Hammond, Gary, Muncie, Lafayette, Terre Haute, Kokomo, Anderson, or Greenwood, we are here right now.

Call or text us at 800-333-5736. Visit us at IndianaAdoption.com. Everything is free and confidential.

For a complete overview of your options, read our guide: Your Options With an Unplanned Pregnancy in Indiana.

About the Author
Grant Kirsh is a second-generation adoption attorney and owner of Kirsh & Kirsh, P.C., a family law firm in Indianapolis, Indiana that has been serving Indiana families since 1981. Grant graduated from Indiana University McKinney School of Law in 2013 and has personally handled nearly 3,000 foster care adoptions and his law firm has handled over 5,000 private newborn adoptions. He practices all forms of domestic adoption, with a deep personal commitment to expectant mothers considering adoption in Indiana and Indiana’s foster care system and the families and children it serves.