school's clothing/toy drive includes carseats--should I object?

NancyV908

New member
Hi. Our school is conducting a toy and clothing drive, & the announcement includes carseats as an item they are collecting.

This bothers me, and I wanted to point out that it's not normally a good item to accept. But I am wondering, strictly speaking, if I am on firm ground. I don't know who is collecting the items, so I suppose it's possible they check them or dispose of them, although I highly doubt that. I'm also unclear on, strictly speaking, what people who are done with their seats are supposed to do. If they are done with a seat but it is not expired or recalled and has never been in a crash, is it really wrong to pass it along? And if not, does where you pass it along matter--ie, it's OK if you hand it to a person you know, or to a nonprofit, & verify it's safe, but not OK in the more anonymous kind of drop-off the school is conducting?

Should I raise this with the organizer of the drive? I'd like to, but am not sure precisely what to say, as you can see.

Thanks!
 
ADS

SusanMae

Senior Community Member
YES you absolutely SHOULD object. There is no way to know if a seat has been crashed or not. What if it fails in a crash? The person who bought it could bring a suit against the school for selling it.

I imagine that many of the seats would come in dirty and without instructions. Without instructions, you can't check or missing pieces or know how to properly install the seat. You could check for recalls and expirations, but that assumes the seat has all the stickers.

Bring it up as a potential liability that the school would be taking on. If the organizer won't listen to you--go to the principal(or director if it's a preschool).

Susan
 

CTPDMom

Ambassador - CPS Technician
I'm also unclear on, strictly speaking, what people who are done with their seats are supposed to do. If they are done with a seat but it is not expired or recalled and has never been in a crash, is it really wrong to pass it along? And if not, does where you pass it along matter--ie, it's OK if you hand it to a person you know, or to a nonprofit, & verify it's safe, but not OK in the more anonymous kind of drop-off the school is conducting?

To answer the second part of your question. No, it's not wrong to pass on a perfectly good seat. It doesn't matter where you pass it on to either.

However, for safety reasons, in an ideal world no one should use the seat unless they know/trust you personally. Otherwise, how would they *know* the seat hasn't been in an accident? Does that make sense? LOL

Passing seats back and forth within family/friends is done all the time. And, certainly, if you know someone in great need and you know the seat is safe you can pass it on to them. I, personally, wouldn't donate a seat to an organization that is selling them to others simply because I know that some of the seats they're selling might not be safe and I don't want to be condoning the sales.
 

Kat_Momof3

New member
I would just have him edit it... to insist that the carseats (though this may already be required for all items, as I know Toys for Tots and other drives require items to be brand new) be new in box/packaging.

Also, I would encourage him to have them accept gift cards, which could then be taken to the store and redeemed before the items were given, so that people can give whatever they can afford, which may not always be a full item in this economy.

Just some thoughts.
 

SusanMae

Senior Community Member
Just to add---many non-profits won't accept used carseats because of the liability in using them.

Susan
 

NancyV908

New member
Thank you, everyone! I have composed an email & will send it off now. I will feel better knowing I have raised these issues.

Nancy
 

NancyV908

New member
FOLLOW UP: 2nd QUESTION Re: school's clothing/toy drive includes carseats--should I object?

Following up:

There was no contact for the clothes/toy drive, so I sent the message to the PTO president, who sort of blew me off ("Hmmm, good point, but maybe it's better to have an iffy carseat than none at all, I'll forward to the person running the drive"). That person completely blew me off & sent a snippy reply saying if I want to contact the company running the drive, feel free.

So I did contact the company. They send the carseats to Africa. The man I spoke to had no idea if they were checked in any way; obviously, they aren't.

So....just wondering. I assume "to Africa" means to people who couldn't otherwise afford them (sorry if that's an offensive assumption). Does that change anything? Is it in fact better to donate possibly iffy carseats than to have people drive kids around with nothing?

Trying to figure out what, if anything, to do next.

Thanks again.
 

BookMama

Senior Community Member
Re: FOLLOW UP: 2nd QUESTION Re: school's clothing/toy drive includes carseats--should I object?

They send the carseats to Africa.

Wow, they actually ship these used car seats overseas? That sounds like an odd and very expensive thing to do.
 

Wineaux

New member
Re: FOLLOW UP: 2nd QUESTION Re: school's clothing/toy drive includes carseats--should I object?

Meh... Screw the African kids. We won't ever see a lawsuit from that.

What a charitable and Christian attitude to take.
:rolleyes:
 

NannyMom

Well-known member
Re: FOLLOW UP: 2nd QUESTION Re: school's clothing/toy drive includes carseats--should I object?

Wow, they actually ship these used car seats overseas? That sounds like an odd and very expensive thing to do.

It's not so expensive to do if you normally travel there yourself. The few times I went to Africa, my BF's family here would always send stuff with me.

Though it is odd...I know Africa is a big place....but where I was not many people had cars....let alone carseats. And a seatbelt....what's that?
 

emandbri

Well-known member
Weird, maybe they aren't using them in cars and just using them as seats for babies so they aren't on the ground. I could just see some well meaning person thinking "we need to send them something to hold their babies" not even thinking that the babies are happily worn in carriers strapped to their moms.
 

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