United States

Safe Kids USA works to prevent accidental childhood injury, the leading killer of children 14 and under. More than 300 grassroots coalitions in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico bring together health and safety experts, educators, corporations, foundations, governments and volunteers to educate and protect families.

Safe Kids USA is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide, a global network of organizations dedicated to preventing accidental injury. Safe Kids USA was founded in 1987 by Children's National Medical Center with support from Johnson & Johnson.

Highlights

National Child Passenger Safety Certification Training Program

The National Child Passenger Safety Certification Training Program certifies people in the United States as child passenger safety technicians and instructors. Tens of thousands have completed training and been certified as Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Technicians since the program began in 1997.

CPS Technicians and Instructors put their knowledge to work by conducting child safety seat checks, where parents and caregivers receive hands-on assistance with proper use of child restraint systems and safety belts.

Safe Kids Worldwide is the current certifying body for the National Child Passenger Safety Training Program. It administers all aspects of CPS certification and maintains a directory of nationally certified CPS Technicians and Instructors. Safe Kids Worldwide provides course materials and registration for and customer service to CPS Technicians and Instructors.

Safe Kids Buckle Up Hits Two Major Milestones

In 2009, the Safe Kids Buckle Up program achieved two major milestones. In August 2007, the program celebrated 10 years of checking car seats and booster seats for proper installation and educating families about safety in and around vehicles.

Between July 2007 and June 2008, 123,869 children in the United States had their car seats checked at 3,257 community events. An additional 1,850 educational events took vehicle-related safety messages to a wide audience through health fairs, workshops and other forums designed by and for local communities.

In June 2008, Safe Kids Buckle Up accomplished something that no other child passenger safety program can claim: one million car seats checked. At about 30 minutes per inspection, this represents more than 500,000 volunteer hours — or 57 years of one person working around the clock. The one millionth seat was checked at an event in Los Angeles, Calif.

In 2008 six more mobile checkup vans were fully equipped to stage Safe Kids Buckle Up events. Now families in New Hampshire; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Treasure Valley, Idaho; Tri-Cities, Nebraska; Iowa; and Western Massachusetts have more access to the lifesaving resources that Safe Kids Buckle Up offers. The total number of mobile checkup vans on U.S. roads currently stands at 131.

Three-Year Effort Leads to New Pool and Spa Safety Law

After a three-year advocacy campaign, a new landmark law to help protect children from drowning was enacted in December 2007. The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act provides incentives for states to adopt comprehensive pool safety laws that will protect children from injuries and deaths from dangerous pool and spa drains and traditional drowning. The law also requires all public pools and spas in the country to be outfitted with anti-entrapment safety devices.

The law is named for the granddaughter of former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, who joined Graeme’s mother, Nancy Baker, and Safe Kids USA in this initiative to prevent childhood drowning and bring attention to the hidden hazard of entrapment.

In 2002, at the age of 7, Graeme Baker died in a spa after the powerful suction of a drain entrapped her under water. The Baker family and Safe Kids USA worked hand in hand with Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and other congressional leaders to ensure that what happened to Graeme does not happen to another child. Drowning remains the second leading unintentional injury-related cause of death for American children ages 1 to 14.