Parents facing financial hardship and not able to purchase a car seat for their child may have the chance to be given one.
Powell River’s Family Place has been selected to participate in the Community Child Car Seat program, a partnership between the British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA) and the United Way of the Lower Mainland.
This is the second year in a row that Family Place, a drop-in centre that provides a child-friendly space and a safe meeting place for parents, has received car seats for infants and children.
Centre coordinator Jean Mackenzie said that it is possible that other family programs and other early childhood services may also be funded by the program.
Family Place will receive 11 infant and several booster seats, said Mackenzie.
In BC parents are required to use rear-facing car seats for infants. Once the child is one year old and over nine kilograms they may be placed in a forward-facing seat. When the child reaches 18 kilograms but is still under 145 centimetres they can be placed in a booster seat. Over 145 centimetres in height or nine years old the child can then use a regular seat belt.
BCAA estimates that as many as five per cent of parents in the province do not use child car seats when transporting their children and that correctly installed child car or booster seats are one of the most effective tools to help reduce the risk of child-passenger injury or death while on the road.
Based on the automobile association’s numbers, there could be as many as 20 children under the age of five who are not being secured in car seats in Powell River, said Mackenzie.
She added that there is a lot of information about car and booster seats at Family Place for parents who want to check if they’ve safely secured their seats or are interested in purchasing a second-hand seat.
The RCMP, however, does not recommend that parents purchase used models because they may be unaware whether the seat has been recalled due to safety concerns.
Parents can visit the fire department or inclusion Powell River’s Supported Child Development program to have their seat and its installation checked, said Mackenzie.
For parents who do not put their children in car seats, they may pay fines that are more expensive than the cost of a new seat, said Annabelle Tully-Barr who works at Family Place.
To apply for a seat, parents are asked to fill out an application form and explain how having the seat will make a difference for them.
“So they need to tell us a little bit about their circumstances, but we’re not going to push people to tell us how much they make,” said Mackenzie.
Applications will be evaluated after a deadline, the date of which has yet to be set.
The shipment of seats will arrive sometime in early June, so people interested in a seat can visit Family Place in Town Centre Mall for an application form. For more information about how to apply readers can call 604.485.2706.
