News

Author: Katrina

A CPS Team’s NDCF Journey Continues

Part 4 of a 4-part series. This article appeared as an editorial by Denise Donaldson and is followed by links to part 1, 2, and 3 of this series, information about the steps she took to prepare her checkup-event team and use the NDCF at checkup events.

Articles in a few of the past SRN issues have covered editor Denise Donaldson’s Seattle-area team as it transitioned to using the National Digital Car Seat Check Form (NDCF). This report provides an update on hardware and basic troubleshooting.

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For Most of the World’s Children, CPS a Work in Progress

Imagine a world in which some CRs offer LATCH or seat belt installation mode, but not both options. Where vehicles don’t have a standardized lockability requirement, so, unless the CR has a lock-off, a locking clip is necessary for seat belt installations. And where many CRs with lock-off functionality require a seat belt that’s so long it often can’t be used.

In fact, you are imagining the world—as a whole—that we live in today! And that’s just considering the jumble of confusing CR/vehicle matchups in countries where CRs are available and used. In many, many countries, CRs are scarcely on the radar.

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Insights From a Team Adopting the NDCF, Part 3: Things Get Real

Part 3 of a 4-part series. At the end of this article, you'll find links to parts 1, 2 and 4 of this series, which include an editorial by Denise Donaldson about why her team is adopting the NDCF and information about the steps she took to prepare her checkup-event team.

After preparing over the winter to use the NDCF, my Car Safe Kids staffers eagerly jumped in with both feet during our first checkup events of 2022, held at Seattle-area hospitals on March 5, March 26, and April 9.

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Insights From a Team Adopting the NDCF, Part 2

Part 2 of a 4-part series. This article is followed by links to part 1, 3, and 4 of this series, an editorial by Denise Donaldson about why her team is adopting the NDCF and information about the steps she took to use the NDCF at checkup events.

Here are the first steps taken by the Car Safe Kids team in the Seattle area to begin using the NDCF.

An annual winter hiatus provided an ideal opportunity for my CPS team, Car Safe Kids, to do some preparation and training before adopting the NDCF in 2022. For readers who are also considering this process, here are the steps I’ve taken so far:

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Transition to NDCF to Energize CPS Data

Part 1 of a 4-part series. This article appeared as an editorial by Denise Donaldson and is followed by links to part 2, 3, and 4 of this series, information about the steps she took to prepare her checkup-event team and use the NDCF at checkup events.

Since the mid-90s, I’ve run a CPS program based in the Seattle area. My team and I have logged thousands of seat checks, and after each checkup event, I let the team and our host agency know our totals—how many checks overall, how many for expectant parents, rear- versus forward-facing, and so on. Then, at year-end, I calculate annual and cumulative figures of our efforts.

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What’s Up With Missing CR Labels?

Technicians are wise to carefully scrutinize CRs these days. Noncompliant models are appearing more often than in the past, mainly due to online, third-party sellers. The noncompliant car seat of one travel system (sold online with a continually changing name that is currently Comfy Baby) has been ubiquitous. It has a three-point harness and flimsy parts, but what immediately jumps out is the CR’s utter lack of labels.

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Safe Sleep (and CRs) Back in the News

Although it’s apparent from this image of an inclined sleeper that these devices are very different from CRs, CPSTs should know about the rules governing sleep-related products for children and provide safe sleep guidance to caregivers.

The topic of safe sleep has been in regulatory and legal news lately as the risk of infant death in products called “inclined sleepers” has begun to spur action (see box below). Inclined sleepers are portable sleep devices that put a baby’s back at an angle of up to about 30 degrees. Over the past 15 or so years, these devices have been linked to infant airway obstruction (from head flopping) or suffocation (from rolling into the padding or partially out of the device). These incidents have led to dozens of infant deaths, with 74 reported to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 2019 alone. Read More from “Safe Sleep (and CRs) Back in the News”

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