Mama Jo
New member
A little background... I am a volunteer counselor at a local pregnancy center, doing pregnancy testing and counseling mainly for teens and young single 20's. It's an amazing organization that offers a huge amount of assistance to these young moms. They offer GED classes, parenting classes, a medical clinic, even professional counseling if they need help above and beyond what I and other volunteers can offer. They also have a 'boutique' where they can get baby clothes, maternity clothes, furniture, diapers... pretty much anything. And they pay for the items with points they earn by taking classes and going to doctor appointments, as opposed to money.
They also sell carseats. Most of them, I'm happy to say, are brand new Sceneras. But they do get the occasional donated bucket seat. At least they check the expirations. And I haven't made a big deal about it yet because these moms have no money and something is better than nothing.
But here's where I'm concerned... I'm planning to become a CPST in the spring. My supervisor knows this and we have talked about offering my cards to the pregnancy center clients so that I can do seat checks for them. It wouldn't be through the pregnancy center, per se, more that the center would be referring them to me and they'd have to call me to make their own appointments as opposed to scheduling an appointment through the center. This was my idea, so that the liability would be on me and not on them.
But my concern is that I fear I may have a larger percentage of people who have second-hand seats with no knowledge of the history, considering where my referrals are coming from. I worry about the liability of checking these seats and the conflict that may arise when I tell them they shouldn't have second hand seats.
I really want to offer this service to them, because I think these are going to be the moms who are either the most receptive (or maybe the least, but you can only do so much.) If nothing else, they're the ones who need the education the most, regardless of what they choose to do with it after that.
I'm considering telling the center though that I will only do this if they stop selling second hand seats. But then I have this fear that if they run out of new ones, someone who really needs one might not get one. I don't know, I'm at a loss...
I know it's a little premature to be thinking about this now, but my supervisor and I have been talking about it for awhile and I'm just trying to figure out how I want to officially approach it when the time comes because I don't want to throw my requirements at them at the last minute.
Suggestions?
Oh, and I was also asked if I'd want to teach a carseat safety class... which is a whole other set of liabilities that I haven't even thought too much about yet! And that's probably for another thread! LOL
They also sell carseats. Most of them, I'm happy to say, are brand new Sceneras. But they do get the occasional donated bucket seat. At least they check the expirations. And I haven't made a big deal about it yet because these moms have no money and something is better than nothing.
But here's where I'm concerned... I'm planning to become a CPST in the spring. My supervisor knows this and we have talked about offering my cards to the pregnancy center clients so that I can do seat checks for them. It wouldn't be through the pregnancy center, per se, more that the center would be referring them to me and they'd have to call me to make their own appointments as opposed to scheduling an appointment through the center. This was my idea, so that the liability would be on me and not on them.
But my concern is that I fear I may have a larger percentage of people who have second-hand seats with no knowledge of the history, considering where my referrals are coming from. I worry about the liability of checking these seats and the conflict that may arise when I tell them they shouldn't have second hand seats.
I really want to offer this service to them, because I think these are going to be the moms who are either the most receptive (or maybe the least, but you can only do so much.) If nothing else, they're the ones who need the education the most, regardless of what they choose to do with it after that.
I'm considering telling the center though that I will only do this if they stop selling second hand seats. But then I have this fear that if they run out of new ones, someone who really needs one might not get one. I don't know, I'm at a loss...
I know it's a little premature to be thinking about this now, but my supervisor and I have been talking about it for awhile and I'm just trying to figure out how I want to officially approach it when the time comes because I don't want to throw my requirements at them at the last minute.
Suggestions?
Oh, and I was also asked if I'd want to teach a carseat safety class... which is a whole other set of liabilities that I haven't even thought too much about yet! And that's probably for another thread! LOL