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tjham

New member
Wow, I have 2 6 yr old Nautilus seats. I would love to see them used this way, but I never get over to Phoenix.
 

Aurezalia

Well-known member
I believe our coalition also donates seats to this, and I know some people do this with old seats on their own as well. I have to be honest, I haven't looked much into that program because it gives me a very uncomfortable feeling.
I want to say "Obviously, seats are always better than no seats" and I do believe that's true - riding around standing on someone's lap gives a kid no chance, while an expired seat MAY fail but would at least give the child a chance if it doesn't.
But at the same time? It really bothers me that there's no effort focused on bringing those kids SAFE seats.
Yesterday at our check event, I confiscated a 2 year old Scenera from a family because they had completely removed the tether from the back of the seat, and we replaced it with a brand new AOE (all we had in the truck). The Scenera and the handful of other seats we had traded out for new seats (some were severely outgrown, etc) went with our coalition head to be recycled - I believe at least some of those seats will end up heading down to Mexico as part of this program.

And that BUGS me, if I'm perfectly honest. Why was that Scenera considered SO dangerous I couldn't let that little boy drive away in it, but it's safe enough for a little Mexican boy to put his life in its (metaphorical) hands? I can't help but think there's some implicit racism at play here - these seats aren't safe enough for OUR kids, but they're good enough for THOSE kids.
I refuse to believe there's NO path to getting companies to donate seats or at least funds for procuring new seats for these communities. I just haven't heard of anyone trying because these castaways are "good enough".

I don't go down to Mexico often anymore - I haven't been in many years - although Nogales is not that far away. My community and thus and MANY of the people I've see come to public check events are Mexican immigrants. Most of them only procure car seats by going through our classes here that provide a free seat after you've sat through the education about car seat safety because they CANNOT afford even $40 for a Scenera. I've worked in this community for years and have absolutely no illusions left about CPS being a black-and-white issue. Almost every scenario I've worked at public events have been varying decisions about how to live in the gray area. We focus on making sure kids are leaving the check event as safely as they possibly can - and that means hopefully safer than they came in, even if it's often not (almost never, in fact) "best practice".
I just don't think that being satisfied with the efforts of this program and not seeing beyond it is really working towards making sure these kids are as safe as they possibly can be - more like "as safe as little effort can get them".

In the meantime, I'll continue to donate my un-needed (but safe) seats to these families in my immediate community that need them and continue to talk to our coalition leaders (who have partnerships already with the local companies that help out with CPS efforts) about next steps. :shrug-shoulders: I've also been shut down for even trying to pursue the idea of attempting to procure grants and funding to expand the CPS program at our hospital like many other places have done because what's there now is "good enough". This attitude is permeating and frustrating and frankly as it stands now I'm not sure how to move past it, but I hope we can.
 

AllieK

New member
Aurezalia, you brought up a lot of good points.

I also think this demographic is in need of many other social services, so much so that governments and philanthropists prioritize those needs above the need to have a safe car seat. There aren't too many different organizations giving to this demographic, at least in my region. One can only give so much, unfortunately, and if one has to choose between immunizations, health/developmental screenings, etc. or a free car seat I think most would opt for immunizations & screenings.
 

bnsnyde

New member
I am glad they are getting these! I've seen no seat use in many countries.

Half the seats here I see are expired, actually!
 

katymyers

Active member
When I lived in El Paso there were so many Mexican families that didn't use any car seat at all, even for newborns. I frequently saw newborns in bouncers or seats for swings and things or baskets if not just in someone's arms. It's definitely not something that's part of their culture or even accessible to the vast majority of them so in my opinion anything that provides at least some kind of proper restraint is definitely an improvement over what they're currently doing.


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