Arizona Safe Baby Haven Foundation
An Arizona 501 (c)(3) non-profit, tax exempt organization
Law: Passed in 2001, Arizona’s Safe Haven Law states that a person is not guilty of child abuse and will not face criminal charges for leaving an unharmed newborn baby, 72-hours-old or younger, with a Safe Haven provider. Safe Haven providers include hospitals, fire stations and on-duty firefighters, on-duty emergency medical technicians, and designated private welfare agencies, adoption agencies and churches.
In 2005, Governor Napolitano proclaimed the first Tuesday of every April to be Safe Baby Haven Day. Sadly, during a press conference announcing her proclamation, word came of a deceased baby found in a Phoenix dumpster. The tragic event highlighted the need for increased awareness of the Safe Haven Law.
Statistics: According to unofficial reports from the Maricopa Medical Examiner, 767 deceased babies under nine months of age were brought to the morgue from 2000 to mid-2006. Of these babies, at least 23 were known to have been born alive, abandoned and left for dead. The Medical Examiner determined that 48 of the 767 infants were homicide victims and 400 died of natural causes. Causes of death for the remaining 296 babies were listed as accidental, undetermined or pending due to ongoing investigations.
Coalition: The Arizona Safe Baby Haven Coalition was formed by a volunteer team of health care professionals, social workers, emergency medical personnel and other concerned citizens. Beginning in 2006, Maria van den Heuvel, a tireless advocate for saving abandoned babies, led the Coalition with the mission of increasing awareness about
Arizona’s Safe Haven Law, in hopes of saving these precious lives. In late 2009, Maria, passed away after a
brief fight with cancer. Her wish was to see her organization continue
and grow. Before her untimely passing, Maria passed the
Presidency of the Coalition to Ken DeFelice, a fellow Church of the Ascension parishioner.
Foundation: In early 2010, Safe Baby Haven Coalition was re-organized as the Arizona Safe Baby Haven Foundation. The Foundation is now recognized as an Arizona non-profit corporation and has been awarded IRS 501 (c)(3) tax exempt status as a public charity. We continue to grow with the original mission of preventing abandoned baby deaths.
The Arizona Safe Baby Haven hotline number is: (866) 707-BABY (2229).