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Jul 02, 2025

Baby 'safe haven' law: The whole script flipped from 'how can we do this,' to 'how can we not do this?'  - Manchester Ink Link

MANCHESTER, NH – When Baby “Grace” Doe was discovered in the water at Pine Island Park in Manchester on March 27, Ron Bodendorf – pastor at The ARK Church in Manchester – knew the church had to take

MANCHESTER, NH – When Baby “Grace” Doe was discovered in the water at Pine Island Park in Manchester on March 27, Ron Bodendorf – pastor at The ARK Church in Manchester – knew the church had to take action.

“Out of that there was a little bit of an increase in reporting on this stuff and it just got a lot of attention,” Bodendorf said. “The thought was maybe if safe haven was known about, these parents wouldn’t have done what they did, and there would have been a warm hand off of Baby Grace and she’d be alive today.”

A safe haven is a church, police or fire station attended by a person where parents can anonymously surrender a newborn infant. Babies can also be surrendered at hospitals. While this was something Bodendorf said he was sensitive too, he felt it was beyond the church’s capabilities.

“This was something that [we thought] was too much for us,” he said. “How are we going to take on babies? How is that going to work?”

This thinking changed when Bodendorf learned about an update made to New Hampshire’s safe haven law in 2024.

“Because it was so easy to do, the whole script flipped from how can we do this, to how can we not do this?” he said.

While all churches in the state by definition are considered safe havens, The Ark Church officially established itself as a safe haven on May 31, with set hours and a designated space equipped with baby essentials.

In 2003, laws surrounding safe havens were established in New Hampshire under RSA 132-A, Temporary Care and Control of Children at a Hospital or Safe Haven.

Under this law, a hospital or safe haven, without a court order, could temporarily assume care and control of a newborn who is no more than seven days old surrendered by a parent, where the parent did not express intent to return for the child.

Within 24 hours after receiving the child, the hospital or safe haven must notify the Department of Health and Human services and law enforcement that they have assumed care and control of the surrendered child.

In July 2024, the New Hampshire legislature approved HB 1607, an amendment which expanded safe haven protections, allowing a parent to surrender a child up to 61 days old through hand off at a safe haven or hospital, or by placing the child in a safe haven infant safety device.

No such devices exist in New Hampshire at this time. However, the Manchester Board of Mayor and Aldermen Committee on Community Improvement on Tuesday night gave a favorable recommendation for the full board to approve negotiations by the fire department for installation of a box at the Central Fire Station. If successful, it will be New Hampshire’s first such baby box.

“Every fire department in the city of New Hampshire is a ‘safe haven’ to drop a baby off. Currently baby boxes don’t exist in New Hampshire – or New England, as far as I know,” Manchester Fire Chief Ryan Cashin said Tuesday night, following the meeting.

The bill – made effective on Sept. 24, 2024 – also allows for further protection to parents who surrender their babies to safe havens or hospitals.

While the original law allowed for the identities of the parents to remain anonymous, this did not always happen. According to the legislative findings, some hospitals in New Hampshire have reported parents’ identities to police who then launched searches to find the mothers.

There have also been cases in the state where mothers who surrendered their babies to a safe haven had been charged with crimes “based on evidence obtained as a direct result of her surrendering the infant …”

“That is the exact opposite intention of the safe haven law,” Bodendorf said. “There’s no judgement. There’s no ratting people out.”

The amendment established that any evidence of a parent’s crime or wrongdoing that was obtained as a “proximate result of that parent acting in accordance with this chapter,” be inadmissible in a criminal or civil trial against them.

The ARK Church’s safe haven is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from five to nine p.m., or by appointment by calling the church at 603-668-6226.

“If somebody were to call on a Sunday night at 3 a.m., we’re getting out of bed for that,” Bodendorf said.

The ARK Church is located at 811 Canal Street, in Manchester.

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