Tragedy drives man to give ‘haven’ to thousands of babies

Associated Press

LEVITTOWN, N.Y.

To untold numbers of children, he’s simply Uncle Tim.

Nearly 3,300 babies across the country who otherwise might have been abandoned and perhaps died have found homes in the past 17 years, thanks in part to the efforts of Tim Jaccard, a retired New York police ambulance medic who grew weary of responding to calls of dead infants abandoned in trash cans and alleys.

“To hold a newborn infant in your arms and have to pronounce that child dead is heart-wrenching,” said the 66-year-old father and grandfather from Long Island. “My gut feeling was that I was being sent on these particular calls to try and see what’s going on and change it. I had to stop this insanity.”

Not only did he help spearhead a movement in all 50 states to enact “safe haven” laws that give mothers in crisis the option of leaving their newborns at police stations, hospitals or firehouses without fear of prosecution, he also founded the national Baby Safe Haven organization that acts as a go-between to make such drop-offs as safe as possible.

Leaving a newborn at a firehouse door in the freezing cold, for example, could still be dangerous for the infant. Mothers can instead call a national hotline (1-888-510-BABY) and arrange a safe handover. Some give birth at a hospital and surrender the child to Baby Safe Haven representatives who work with local social services agencies.

Jaccard’s eyes redden when he talks of the tragic abandonments he dealt with in his 37 years as a medic. But there are also the more hopeful cases he documents on a bulletin board jammed with dozens of snapshots of the children relinquished through Baby Safe Haven.

“What he’s doing is ensuring that mothers are able to move forward with their lives,” said Tracey Johnson, executive director of the National Safe Haven Alliance in Washington, D.C.