Safety for Children

Children go missing every day, and it is becoming quite an epidemic. Child safety service InstantAmber has some pretty interesting missing children statistics that highlight just how big the problem is:

In America, more than 797,500 are reported missing on average in a single year. Broken down further: 2,185 children are reported missing each and every day. Fortunately, of those reported missing, only a small percent (9%) are victims of either family abductions, or stereotypical kidnappings. Once more, after a further look at the statistics, we find that only 2% of children who go missing are subject to a non-family abductions and 7% have been abducted by family members.

Unfortunately, when a child is kidnapped those figures become increasingly grim. There is typically over a two-hour delay in the initial report of a missing child. Sadly, 74% of those that are murdered are killed within the first three hours of the abduction. There are estimated to be over 100 cases a year where a child is abducted and murdered. These children are generally low risk victims. Most of them, 74%, are girls and 80% of the time the initial contact between child and abductor is generally within 1/4 of a mile from the home.

Child safety is still a very important issue that we must remember to pay attention to.

Parents in Staten Island, New York are concerned over child safety after it was reported that a cell tower in the Huguenot area was putting off low levels of radiation into a few classrooms at Our Lady Star of the Sea school. The towers, positioned on the school’s roof, bring in a revenue of roughly $13,000 a year to the school from the cell company. There are other cell towers in the immediate area that are also being detected at the school.

Two months after learning that the towers across the street emit radiation toward the school, Monsignor Conway ordered metal screens, which will be installed on classroom windows to deflect radiation. He is also planning to ask the owner of the strip mall to turn the antennas away from the school. The antennas, which are on top of a Dunkin’ Donuts, are operated by T-Mobile, records show. In addition, a Verizon representative said the company is planning to add 12 antenna panels to the site.

Lawmakers in the area are calling for an investigation in light of the new findings and fear over the children’s safety.

Does your infant have a drop side crib? Those involved in crib manufacturing have proposed a ban on this style of crib after some child safety recalls and apprehension over death and injury involving the moving part.

Officials familiar with deliberations of a committee that sets industry standards say the proposal would end production of drop-side cribs — where one side moves up and down. The proposal would require cribs to have four immovable sides.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says at least three children have died in drop-side cribs in the last 18 months. The agency knows of more than two dozen incidents in which drop-sides detached from cribs.

News of the latest child safety seat recall, from WLS-TV in Chicago:

RECARO is recalling about 5,400 seats because the central front adjuster strap on some seats may slip and cause the harness straps to become loose.

The company says the affected models include RECARO Signo seats manufactured from February through September of last year.

RECARO will replace any defective seat free of charge. The company has estabilished a hotline for carseat owners. That number is 1-888-473-2290.

If you are a resident of Lee County, Florida, there is now a new service focused on child safety and sex offenders. The Miami Herald explains the new program and how it will benefit parents in the area:

Residents in one southwest Florida county will get a phone call when a sex offender moves into the neighborhood.

Starting Sunday, Lee County authorities will send the prerecorded calls over land lines within a quarter-mile radius. The messages are similar to those already sent about missing children or Alzheimer’s patients.

Sgt. Tracy Booth says the phone calls will back up information already available on the sheriff’s office Web site or by e-mail alerts. The phone recording also states that the information should not be used to harass anyone.

There is a new child safety bill going into effect on February 10 that was threatening reselling businesses, but now a change to the bill is exempting consignment stores from the law. This is good news to stores who were concerned they were going to go out of business.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act goes into effect on February 10. The law bans the sale of products with more than 600 parts per million of lead, regardless of when it was made. In order to certify their products, stores who resell children’s toys and bottles would have had to purchase expensive lead testing equipment.
"It was $400 a day to rent it plus $160 in shipping to have it," said De Ana Jimenez of Repeats Children’s Resale. "That was way out of our budget. We might as well close doors."

But luckily they won’t have to. The Consumer Product Safety Commission offered a last minute reprieve, exempting thrift and consignment stores from the law.
"It was total relief," said owner Karen Wilde. "I was so relieved we could keep moving forward."

There are still questions about the law, however. While stores like Repeats won’t have to test for lead, they are still liable if they sell products that are above the limit. Wilde and Jimenez say they were also frustrated that they only found out about the law by watching the news.

"We need to come together as a group so we can address this with our elected officials because they don’t know how it’s going to affect us as business owners," said Wilde.
They also plan to watch the ever-growing list of recalled products carefully to avoid reselling anything harmful.

A Groves, Texas woman has been charged with two counts of criminal negligent homicide after her two children were killed in her car while not restrained by child safety seats. In Texas, as in many states, there are certain child safety restraint laws to protect children in automobiles.

Trooper David Martinez tells KFDM, "the two children were not properly secured in the vehicle." Martinez says one-year-old Rodolfo Ramos Romero was wearing a seatbelt, but state law requires anyone less than five years old and 36 inches in height should be in a child safety seat. Romero’s five-year-old sister Ariadna Zepeda Romero was not wearing a child safety seat or a seatbelt.

If you are a resident of Tallahassee, Florida, the Tallahassee Police are running what is called a RADKids class aimed at teaching child safety to children. The classes, running from February thru October will teach the children the following safety techniques.

Friend said it’s a self-empowerment class that educates children from 7-12 years old. The classes focus on teaching children what to do and say when a dangerous or uncomfortable situation occurs. The goal is to teach confidence, self-esteem and the power to make good choices. Topics featured are: stranger danger, bullying, dangers in drugs, fire safety, gun safety, assault and abduction safety.

Register your child via email or on the phone at 891-1874.

There is a lot of back and forth going on these days about the validity of the Amber Alert system and whether or not it is worth the time and expense. The abduction of two Pennsylvania girls whom the state would not issue an Alert for has some questioning the system on a whole.

But when Tammy Kongkham allegedly snatched her daughters Kelly and Kimberly outside their Juniata Park school on Oct. 16, Pennsylvania State Police didn’t issue an Amber Alert, which would have publicized the disappearance nationally to faster locate them.

Those involved say that this failure illustrates serious shortcomings in a federal system, implemented in 2002, that missing-persons investigators hoped would hasten the recovery of endangered children and the arrests of their abductors.

Federal law requires all states to have child-abduction alert systems in place, but the varying state-to-state interpretations often cause tension and confusion, according to an Associated Press study published last month.

In Pennsylvania, that criteria requires that a child was abducted and not a runaway or throwaway; the child must also be under 18 years old and believed to be in danger of death or serious bodily harm, according to the state’s Amber Alert Web site.

If you are preparing to travel for the holiday season, have you thought about travel safety for your child? Both car and air travel require child restraint seats for children under a certain age and weight, and if you are flying, you’ll need a child restraint seat for the car when you get where you are going.

Not all car seats can fit on standard airplane seats, which are typically about 16 inches wide, but Safe Kids USA and the Federal Aviation Administration strongly recommend using a car seat in an aircraft whenever possible. As in cars, babies under a year old and 20 pounds are best restrained in a rear-facing car seat, and a forward-facing car seat can protect toddlers up to 40 pounds or more. Make sure your child’s car seat is labeled "certified for use in motor vehicles and aircraft."

"You need your child’s car seat to travel to and from the airport anyway," said Korn. "Car rental companies might not have reliable car seats available and checking your child’s seat as baggage could result in damage. Your kids are better off in their own car seats."

Children who have outgrown car seats should sit directly on the airplane seat and, like all passengers, keep the lap belt buckled across their thighs or hips. Booster seats are not allowed on airplanes, because they require shoulder belts and airplane seats have only lap belts.