Nassau County Police report that a nanny suffocated her newborn son, stuffed his body into a shoebox and plastic bag and then left his body at the Hicksville Long Island Rail Road platform in November. Thirty-four year-old Erma Stephens, who rented a room in Brooklyn, was arrested Dec. 14 at the Woodbury home she worked at as a live-in nanny and charged with murder - 2nd degree.

According to police, Stephens showed up on the train station's video footage that was being investigated by both Nassau and MTA police. After further investigation of the shoebox and where it was purchased, along with police canvassing of the area with Stephens' photo, led police to the Chauncey Place home. The baby had been born in Stephens' Brooklyn home.

On Nov. 27, a Long Island Rail Road passenger making his way across the second level "B" platform stopped to pick up what he believed was just a plastic bag carelessly left on the ground next to a trash bin. Inside the bag, however, the Hicksville commuter found the body of a deceased male newborn with its umbilical cord still attached.

According to published reports, Stephens killed the child because she thought his out-of-wedlock birth would shame her and that the baby's father is not in this country. Had Stephens taken advantage of the Safe Haven Law, her son would still be alive. Through the New York Baby Safe Haven Program, Stephens could have handed the baby over at any hospital or police or fire department, without legal penalty.

This was the fifth time a deceased newborn has been found in the metropolitan area in 2006. While the numbers have dramatically decreased in the past decade - there were around 16 a year in 1998 - the fact that it is still happening at all is baffling to Timothy Jaccard, president and director of the New York Baby Safe Haven Program.

The Safe Haven legislation provides a responsible alternative, especially to mothers who find themselves in desperate situations. It allows them to voluntarily deliver a newborn baby to a provider without threat of criminal prosecution. A Safe Haven is a designated public place, or in New York's case, a person, who willingly accepts the responsibility of the baby. The goal of Safe Haven is to accept an infant from a birth mother, get the infant medical care if needed and then put the infant in the adoption process.

On a local front, area hospitals such as Winthrop, Mercy, Nassau University Medical Center and North Shore-LIJ are all Safe Haven location,s as are police stations, fire departments and even various stores identified with a Safe Haven decal who can immediately get in touch with a Children of Hope volunteer.

In addition, pregnant mothers can contact the non-profit AMT Children of Hope Foundation and discuss options before the child is born and provide them with medical assistance and emotional support as well as arrange for adoption, should the mother wish to choose that option. All mothers, should they wish, have the option of relinquishing the child and remaining anonymous, whether it is prior to or after birth.

Through the foundation, which Jaccard is founder and president, the baby was given a proper burial at The Cemetery of the Holy Rood's Island of Hope. He was give the first name Nicholas by the passerby who found him and the last name Hope by the foundation.

"I am saddened by the death of Nicholas Hope and the fact that his mother did not know of the Safe Haven Law. I feel in my heart that if the public service announcements promoted throughout the year in other areas in the state had been at the Hicksville train station she would have known about other options," said Jaccard.

He continued, "In the past we have displayed posters informing the public about the Safe Haven relinquishment law at numerous MTA train stations and the posters have been removed. I am hoping through the death of Nicholas Hope and the arrest of his mother that the MTA will assist us in displaying the public awareness posters that will bring an end to future tragic events."