Community Names and Mourns Baby Found in Brookside Park
INDIANAPOLIS — People in Indianapolis came together Saturday to give a funeral and burial to an abandoned baby girl found dead in Brookside Park last month.
Unnamed for more than 50 days, she is now known as Baby Haven Grace Hope.
The ministry He Knows Your Name hosted the service at Washington Park East Cemetery. Ministry founder Linda Znachko claimed the baby to serve as her advocate and guardian in death, a mission the group has carried out for 61 babies since 2009.
It was an emotional day for those who fathered in the church, including Katelyne Sanchez, whose 12-year-old son discovered Haven near a creek on September 1.
Songs were sung to remember Haven’s life before she was buried, and people took turns tossing flowers onto her small casket.
Znachko said the somber day is a clear reminder of Indiana’s Safe Haven Law, which could have saved the baby’s life. Haven is the first baby found abandoned and dead in Indiana in over 10 years. Her name, Haven, is a call to the Safe Haven Law, and her middle and last names, Grace Hope, connect her to a baby found abandoned in 2014.
Znachko says that while the first baby inspired awareness for Safe Haven Baby Boxes, Baby Haven’s legacy is about educating and providing resources for mothers in crisis.
Znachko continues her mission, with the community invited to attend the 25th Anniversary Safe Haven Law Celebration at the Indiana Statehouse on November 18.
1. Baby Haven
2. Carrying Haven's Casket
3. Burying Haven
4. Linda Znachko at Service
