According to the A.M.T. Children of Hope Foundation on Long Island, a law (passed in 2000) that permits new mothers to leave their babies at various safe havens without risk of prosecution failed to prevent at least six infant deaths in New York City last year. However, New York's Abandoned Infant Protection Act might be responsible for an increase in the number of babies abandoned here in the city. The law was intended to deter the trend of women who abandon their babies. Last month, yet another death occurred when a Bronx mother, Lucila Rojas, 25, reported her two-week-old son missing and later confessed to suffocating him with a blanket and leaving him in the trash. She was charged with second-degree murder, evidence tampering and endangering the welfare of a child. According to Timothy Jaccard, the foundation's president, crimes like these could be avoided if more people new about the Abandoned Infant Protection Act. New York is one of 47 states that have such a law, but there is no national database to track the number of abandonments and deaths. Instead, foundations like the one above calculate figures, often based on the media publicity surrounding cases. In 2005, only three babies died in New York City, according to the A.M.T. Children of Hope Foundation.