OMG!! DHS..

Blondie87

New member
So my 15 month old foster son is picked up every other week in a big van to take him to his visit an hour away. When the pick him up they have a baby in an infant carseat and my foster son's 2 sisters who are 5 and 6. He is always in horrible carseats which I have no idea what kind they are, and FF of course, straps are lose, chest clips not in the right spot.

But today was the worst. I finally paid more attention. I tried to pull one of the seats to see how they were installed, and they just belt them through. They are not tight at all!! I just went and got him out of the van and his 6 year old sister was sitting in a Scenera with the seatbelt over the carseat like a booster!!! And the 5 year old was in a cosco HBB and the belt wasn't even threaded through the belt positioner. Both girls practically had the shoulder straps in front of their faces. My foster son's carseat was kind of sideways (cuz it's not in there tight) and his straps were so loose.

What am I supposed to do?? Why don't they teach the people who drive these kiddos around something about carseat safety?? I don't know what to do.. I don't know whether I should tell them I am going to be providing and installing his seat everytime.. or what. But even then, what about the other kids that ride with them? Soooo many kids get transported by DHS to visits and such. How do I make this better?
 
ADS

Mama!

New member
I'd have handed the baby to the driver and said "hold on, this seat isn't safe" and locked the seatbelt and tried to top tether if I could have. I'd have done the same for the other kid too.

You can call the office and complain and tell them to take those vans to a Safekids technician.
 

scatterbunny

New member
I just sent an email to our state CPS coordinator asking her advice. I've had the same exact problems with Tillamook County DHS. :(
 

MomToEliEm

Moderator
One of my coworkers has 3 foster kids. They are picked up weekly for various visits by agency employees. One time, the youngest (2 years old) was in a forward facing infant seat. Another time, the 3 year old was in a no back booster in just a lap belt, and another time the 5 year old was not in anything.

I educated my friend a couple years ago about carseats and now she is pretty obsessed about proper use so she got very upset with the agency. She has made phone calls and pointed out problems to the driver, but it doesn't seem the agency really cares. Most of the her kids don't legally have to be in anything but a seatbelt (we are in Texas where as long as they are 36" tall, they don't have to be in anything but a seatbelt) so I guess it isn't a high priority.

The kids are almost always picked up at school/daycare and she only sees them at the end of their car-ride so she doesn't always get to see how they are traveling until it is too late.
 
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TXAggieTech

Active member
As foster parents we did not let our children be transported unsafely. I provided and installed the seats for each visit and made sure the worker knew how to put them back in to come home. I reminded our worker that we were required to follow best practice, not minimum standards.

We also coordinated a CE class on car seat usage.

Honestly, I don't think anything will change until a child in care is killed from lack of proper usage and DHS is sued successfully.
 

Blondie87

New member
I haven't said anything to her because I'm not sure it's my place, DHS is the guardian of these kiddos, so do my words even count for anything? They can pretty much do whatever and I have no say.

I called DHS and the woman said that they DO have carseat safety classes, and the last one was only a year ago. She said she didn't really know what she could do for me besides pass me on to the driver's supervisor. I left a message on her phone telling her to call me back. I tried calling his caseworker, my certifier, but no one is picking up. I guess I don't have to worry about it for another 2 weeks..

Next time I will install our seat in the car, and make sure she knows how to buckle him. Today, there was no other carseat in the car, so I don't know what the 6 year old could have been in instead of the Scenera as a booster...
 

Synchro246

New member
I haven't said anything to her because I'm not sure it's my place, DHS is the guardian of these kiddos, so do my words even count for anything? They can pretty much do whatever and I have no say.
..
Well, of course your words count for something! You may not be able to *make* them do anything, but if you handle it with the mind that you're just helping educate in a kind manner chances are good you will made a positive impact.
 

PHaley

New member
I want to become a foster parent in 2009 I guess I had thought that was probably the case but never really thought how it would make me feel having to turn them over knowing their not being transported safely.

I guess for myself I might look into keeping a cheap set of back ups I know I can install quickly and won't be hurt if something happens. I won't be sending my Britax out the door but might invest in an avenue and cargo, turbo booster and already have a ss1 and even thats nearly $400 yikes. What would be a cheaper combination of seats to have on hand to be able to send with them? Scenera, cosco combo seat each $40-50 a $20 no back turbo and skip the infant seat since sceneras hold many newborns well?

Maybe if you get (i get) the cosco seats it would be reasonable to just install them and donate them to that driver provided you showed the driver how to use them and knew that 'your kids' and others would be safer for it?! :) I feel for you but will be interested to hear if they call you back what they have to say for themselves.
 

Blondie87

New member
They can't really take the van to safe kids to install because they take those seats in and out so much. Sometimes they'll have all teenager in the car, other times all carseats.. and so on.

I talked to her supervisor and she said that they aren't required to take any classes on carseat safety, but they expect them to know these things when doing this. WTH? How does that work out? I told her that I am sure there are some carseat techs in the area that would be willing to hold a class there maybe every 6 months and maybe DHS can require those transporting the kids to take it. She just said "Well I am hearing your concerns and suggestions. I will take that into consideration." I don't know how I'm supposed to get anywhere with this...
 

scatterbunny

New member
Codi, my state coordinator got back to me about five minutes ago on this, with some great ideas. PM me your email address so I can forward it on to you. :)
 

oursonend

New member
Anonymous tip to the local investigative reporter on DHS transporting kids unsafely? :whistle:


Maybe not so anonymous though... lol. If there is one particularly squeaky wheel they may not wonder who called it in.

I honestly don't know what could be done, but I applaud your efforts to get something going. IMO the things you described are BEYOND what I consider "normal" bad usage. They are extra-bad usage. The Scenera as a booster? Seats not even tight? The people installing them obviously don't have enough experience with car seats, or they would know that they have to at least be tight.
 

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
I haven't said anything to her because I'm not sure it's my place.

IMO, you need to advocate for your foster children. I might be getting you confused with someone else, or I might not be remembering right, but I recall an instance a couple weeks ago where the child's grandmother came to pick him up in an improperly installed/used seat? (Like I said, I might not be remembering right.)

Even if you're not the kind of person to speak up in general, you need to in this case. I don't ordinarily mention misuse to strangers because I'm too shy and hate confrontation. But when it comes to my OWN kid, I'll throw myself in front of the car before letting him go somewhere in a car seat I don't have confidence in.

Next time, PLEASE say something to the driver and insist on installing the seat properly. I suppose she can shrug you off and grab the kid, but at least you would have done your best.

I don't want it to sound like I'm coming down on you--I'm really not. I just want to encourage you to take a more active role in the future when it comes to your kids/the kids in your care.
 

emandbri

Well-known member
That is really scary! Don't be afraid to speak up you can do it! Practice saying it before hand "I've done a lot of research online about car seats and these aren't being used right, let me help you make sure these kids are safe."
 
First,
Thank you for what you are doing.... You sound like an awseome foster mom. This is what I wanna do soon(we are still young, 26 and 28) and are done having kids of our own and I would LOVE to foster.....

I would def. speak up.... I would installed the seat myself probally....but I see how it is weird in your circumstance.

I am glad you are speaking up and trying to find out why they don't care/know about carseat ..... You think they should....

I know there was a lil' boy that came to my neighbors house(fostered) and DHS put him in a NBB at 1 1/2 years old! Made me wanna PUKE when I heard about it.....

Again,,, Thank you for what you are doing(I am friends with 2 people who were fostered their whole lives... One had terrible abusive foster parents the other had WONDERFUL foster parents)....
 

BW1426

Well-known member
IMO, these children are your children (if only temporarily). They shouldn't be handled any differently than if they were your own. It's your obligation to advocate for them, because the truth of the matter is that many of the children have no one to advocate for them and that's why they're in the system :( Some do, but many do not. These are your children, take it from there.
 

Judi

CPST/Firefighter
I called DHS and the woman said that they DO have carseat safety classes, and the last one was only a year ago. ...

Yeah, right. Sorry, but the group I volunteered with would have been the one to do it, and I would have known. If they did a class, it wasn't with an instructor or tech as far as I know. I have asked DHS for 6 years to do a class. The answer is always, oh, we should set something up, or I should check with so and so.
 

scatterbunny

New member
Judi, I'm going to email you tomorrow about what we can do to motivate DHS to step up to the plate on this. Gayle has some good ideas, but I think those ideas have a better chance of success if we have multiple techs/parents on board.
 

Blondie87

New member
You girls are right. I shouldn't let them go anywhere if I don't think they are safe. I didn't it notice it this time until she dropped him off. Sometimes she just comes to my door and takes him to the car herself, or brings him up to the door. I saw her drive up and met her down there so I saw the seats... :eek:

I talked to my certifier too and he says if I notice it's not right then to have the driver wait until I install his seat right. He told me that I should become a tech and come and talk and teach the foster parents during their training. When I told him that I was told that the drivers don't need to take any classes... he said "Well that might have to change soon.." like he was gonna try to do something about it. I am going to try my best to make some kind of difference. I am going to talk to the person who trains the foster parents to see if they can introduce any kind of carseat safety training into the classes. And maybe try to talk to someone higher up about having required training for all of the DHS workers besides just stupid supervisors.
 

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