Marley Greiner and I have for months now been opposing a “baby box” bill in Indiana (SB345), which is one of the worst bills we’ve seen in a long time. It’s not a child welfare bill. It’s not even close. It’s a bill that streamlines adoption by creating a box to adoption pipeline. If you want to read my letter in opposition to the bill, it is here (and Marley covers things here). Otherwise, as I’m apt to do, I made two charts to illustrate how bad this bill is. It’s probably the quickest way to understand how SB345 will facilitate corrupt off-the-books adoptions.
PS: Understanding these charts may require some familiarity with state safe haven laws and their outgrowth: baby boxes, or what are euphemistically called “newborn safety devices.” My friend and colleague Marley Greiner has you covered here if you want to know more about what may be a core aspect of the future of adoption and placement—unless we act now to stop them from spreading.
A Corrupted Adoption Pipeline
SB345 has now passed the Indiana House and Senate, with no amendments to address the core problem of the bill: off-the-books anonymous trafficking of infants for adoption. The illustration immediately below shows how that process will work, with direct baby box referrals from fire station to adoption agency to “pre-approved” adoptive parents to final adoption, all completed in the span of a single month and all without any state oversight. None.
A PDF of this chart is also available here.
Previous: A Recipe for Corruption
A PDF of the chart is also available here. While the original bill has been amended, it did not touch these specific aspects of the bill. They remain in the bill, which passed the Senate 46-0 and the House 81-14. With the Governor’s expected signature, it is now poised to become law.
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