Tim Jaccard, Wantagh resident and founder of Children of Hope Foundation Safe-Haven, an organization dedicated to eradicating infant abandonment.

For Tim Jaccard, 1998 was a trying year but also a turning point.
      As a Nassau County ambulance medical technician, Jaccard, 53, of Wantagh, was assigned several calls for abandoned babies. One was left in a toilet bowl in the Hempstead District Court, another in a bin at the Lawrence-Cedarhurst recycling plant.
      The more Jaccard and other AMTs came across abandoned babies, the more they realized something needed to be done to give these infants a measure of dignity in their rather undignified deaths. They also realized these desperate pregnant mothers needed help.      That's why Jaccard founded the non-profit AMT Children of Hope Foundation Safe-Haven.
      The organization provides graveside burial services for abandoned babies at Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury, where it purchased a section of grounds now known as the Island of Hope.       Children of Hope also avails itself to pregnant women at risk for abandoning their children, operates an emergency hotline and runs a facility in the Bellmore-based Long Island Crisis Center.
      Raising funds to run Children of Hope is no small task, Jaccard said. While grants from the federal government and major corporations help, community financial support is crucial.
      As a 501 C3 company registered with the attorney general, all donations are tax-deductible. Fund-raisers local communities organize to benefit Children of Hope prove rewarding for several reasons, Jaccard said.
      The money is not the issue, he said. It's having people involved in a community project to prevent infanticide.
      Since its inception, the foundation has made its presence felt. The Safe Haven law, which Jaccard and his colleagues fought to pass in New York State, allows mothers to relinquish their babies to a safe place, such as a hospital or fire department, without fear of criminal prosecution. The law is now in effect in 10 states.
      The organization also offers options to women who are unsure how to deal with their pregnancies, Jaccard said. Children of Hope offers prenatal care and total anonymity.
      The foundation can place a new mother in a safe haven, where they learn parenting skills and get support in raising their new child. The women are given aliases in order to maintain their privacy.
      Children of Hope assists mothers in giving up their babies for adoption as well. If the mother wants to put her child up for adoption, she is empowered to choose the adoptive couples through agencies," Jaccard said.
      Nassau County's rates of infanticide and neonaticide (killing babies within 24 hours of their birth) have declined dramatically since Children of Hope was founded.
      Last year there were 2,510 phone calls placed to Children of Hope's emergency hotline.
      Jaccard said that, of the women the foundation worked with, 123 kept their newborns and their families aided them with the pregnancy and child. Twenty-nine mothers kept the babies without their families' support and were placed in safe havens. Seventeen women put their babies up for adoption, and 10 relinquished them to Children of Hope.
      2002 is the first time in 11 years that we had no neonaticides, Jaccard said.
      He added that an average of 13 to 14 babies a year were being abandoned in the county and attributed the decrease to more awareness and hospital availability. Children of Hope gets its message out through radio and TV commercials, and talk show appearances.
      Debbie Holbrook, a nurse and friend of Jaccard's, said that his dedication to Children of Hope is largely responsible for the organization's accomplishments.
      He gives his cell phone number out to mothers who need help, Holbrook said. He's saved so many babies.
      Jaccard said his overall experience with Children of Hope has been challenging, but also rewarding. I feel that the programs are a great success, but we need to refine the laws even more, Jaccard said. We're still in the infancy stage ourselves."
      The Children of Hope's emergency hotline is 1-877-796-HOPE. All calls are confidential.

How to help
      Anyone interested in donating to the Children of Hope Foundation may do so at the group's office at Nassau County Police Department headquarters: Children of Hope Foundation Safe-Haven, 1490 Franklin Ave., Mineola, NY 11501.
An island of hope
Wantagh activist lends helping hand to mothers and newborns
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