In 2000, Indiana joined 45 other states in enacting a Safe Haven Law for the protection of infants.

The law states the following:

A parent or other custodial adult can abandon an infant under the age of 45 days with an emergency medical services provider (hospitals, EMS, fire departments, and law enforcement agencies). Secrecy of the identity of the mother is assured, and she will not be prosecuted for abandonment or neglect if she acts within 45 days of the birth, and the baby is not harmed (no evidence of child abuse or neglect).

Indiana’s Safe Haven Law gives infants protection and frightened or overwhelmed mothers another option.