Timothy Jaccard began his career with the Nassau County Police Department in 1973. He served as a medic for decades when he knew there was a problem at hand.
“In a 10-month period, I had 16 babies that were murdered, and I took legal custody and buried them at Holy Rood Cemetery in Westbury,” he said.
Jaccard said this caused him to want to create some sort of solution, which he did in 1998, when he founded the AMT Children of Hope Foundation to usher in change.
Jaccard said he sought to speak with lawmakers about making legal changes involving parents who did not want to keep their children. Jacaard said George W. Bush, the governor of Texas at the time, was the first person he spoke to about it.
Eventually, laws would be enacted in all 50 states.
New York’s Abandoned Infant Protection Act, which was enacted in 2000, allows a parent to abandon a newborn baby up to 30 days of age anonymously and without fear of prosecution, if done safely.
It says a parent is not guilty of a crime if the infant is left with an appropriate person or in a suitable location and the parent promptly notifies an appropriate person of the infant’s location. Examples of places include hospitals and staffed police or fire stations.
Today, the foundation honors abandoned infants with burials and advocates for safe, legal alternatives through Safe Haven laws.
“We try to do the educational part,” Jaccard said. “I speak in high schools all over and I try to get the law recognized in the eyes of the younger generation. It’s been very successful.”
Jaccard was honored at the Wantagh July 4th parade by state Sen. Steve Rhoads, but the head of the organization and president of the National Safe Haven Alliance in Washington, D.C., said he keeps quiet about his own accomplishments and prefers to focus on the foundation.
“Timothy Jaccard’s selfless service and tireless advocacy are nothing short of heroic,” Rhoads said.
Although there are several legal drop-off locations, the organization has an official safe house in Wantagh, where Jaccard said he can talk with mothers one-on-one.
And in the time that Jaccard has worked with the foundation, he said he has delivered over 300 babies himself.
“It’s about the birth mothers,” he said. “I want to make sure that they’re safe.”
