March 2, 2007

Suozzi and Children of Hope Foundation Announce Success in Baby Safe Haven Law

-- On 1-year Anniversary of Tragedy, a Newborn Baby Girl Is Saved

Mineola, NY - Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi and Timothy Jaccard, Director of the Children of Hope Foundation, announced today that a newborn baby girl was safely relinquished under the New York State Safe Haven Law.

New York law allows a mother who believes she cannot care for her baby to legally and safely leave the newborn at a number of locations, including police precincts, firehouses, hospitals, churches or with any responsible adult willing to accept the baby and call proper authorities. But today’s happy news comes on a tragic anniversary - exactly one year after an abandoned newborn baby was found dead on the side of a Hempstead road.

“Yesterday, common sense prevailed, and a young mother did the right thing - she saved her newborn baby’s life, thanks to the Safe Haven Law and to the efforts of people like Tim Jaccard and the Children of Hope Foundation,” Suozzi said. “Our message today is simple: if you’re facing a crisis pregnancy and feel you absolutely cannot care for your baby, you have options, including safely relinquishing your baby.”

“Today’s relinquishment was the result of a caring mother and the aid of the Safe Haven Program,” Jaccard said. “The mother and the child are both safe today because of this program.” Jaccardi’s agency, the Children of Hope Foundation, works to save as many newborns as possible from abandonment by providing birthmothers with confidential help.

The Safe Haven Law, formally adopted in New York State in 2001 as the Infant Abandonment Protection Act, ensures birthmothers in crisis are made aware of all their options: making a parenting plan with their families, working out an adoption plan or making a relinquishment plan with no questions asked.

A call came in yesterday morning to the Baby Safe Haven Hotline (1-877-796-HOPE), run by the Children of Hope Foundation, with information that saved the baby girl. During 2006, the hotline received 2,403 calls. Of those, 105 birthmothers chose a parenting plan but needed help and were placed into mother-and-child programs; 23 birthmothers made an adoption plan, and 14 relinquished their newborns into our the Safe Haven Program. The organization also had the sad duty of making funeral arrangements for six newborns.

In the past five years, 47 states have passed legislation that designates specific locations as safe places for desperate parents to relinquish their unharmed newborns safely, legally, and anonymously. Some 1,116 babies from 33 states have been relinquished through Safe Haven organizations in the past six years.

The Children of Hope Foundation has combined their efforts with other Safe Havens throughout the country to form the National Safe Haven Alliance (NSHA), based in Washington, D.C. The mission of the NSHA is to support states’ efforts to prevent infanticide and unsafe newborn abandonment through safe haven relinquishments. NSHA activities will promote its mission by publicizing the existence of this safe legal alternative and by providing resources to states and state-based organizations.