Car seat issues for foster children

To add onto lonvinheart's post, my home inspector told me that foster parents shouldn't use "used" carseats...I can understand why- you don't know if it was in an accident or how old it is.

Kimyas, we have a similar age range and I picked up a Cosco Scenera, which is under $50 and goes from 5 - 40lbs. I did some research and it seemed to be able to fit chunkier kids than the Graco equivalent. I wanted something that gave me as much leeway as possible. I was very impressed with the seat when it arrived - it seems pretty comfy. I figured that if a child arrived w/ an infant seat, I could use this once they outgrew the baby seat if they were still with me. Also, if the kid moved once he/she was riding in the Scenera, I could send that on and know that the kid would be in a safe, size-appropriate seat that would last them a while in their next home. I picked one up after Thanksgiving for $35, I think - they seem to go on sale for ~$40 fairly often at Sears & Kmart. Yes, they just need to send me a placement so I will stop obsessing about baby gear!

DYFS will provide the car seat; just remind them when you get the call. They additionally provided a front facing car seat when my son got older, as well as a high chair.

Thank you. I looked on Kmart site and they have the car seat for 39.99. I think when I get a chance I will pick one of these up. Good idea to have one around.

Glad I can help. How was your first class?

It was awesome and I am so excited to get started. We go to our next class tomorrow (Saturday). Now I need to do some investigatin on child care as I work full time and a peditrician. Kim

If you've never before had the pleasure of installing a carseat, it may be a good idea to take that new carseat, and your car, to the nearest police station or fire department that has certified car seat techs, to show you how to properly install it. LATCH, tethering, angles...there's a lot to it, and the instruction booklet is usually as clear as Mud, with illustrations that do not seem to apply to your particular model. And once it's attached correctly, according to your particular car's manual, it needs to be snugged up rock solid, so it does not move more than 1 inch in any direction, no matter how hard you yank on it. For the uninitiated, you actually have to climb into the thing while tugging hard on the belts. Better to practice all this without a child within earshot, as there is usually much sweating and cussing involved with your first few attempts! I think the stats say that more than half the carseats on the road are improperly installed, and therefor are not protecting the child from spinal cord injury or death.

Kimyas, enjoy them! We met a lot of great people in the classes. Chickie, you are so right about the ordeal of installing car seats! I should have stretched before I tried to put one in the back of our Mini Cooper. Not fun at all.

Did you go thru Just Babies for your training?

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Chickie - you are so right about car seat installation. I took a brand new one with instructions to my local fire department and it took three (3) trained fireman 45 minutes to get the thing installed! Lucky for me there was no emergency call during that time. I did not move that seat for three years -- not even to clean the car -- because I knew I would never get it back in correctly!

We did! We were in the previous class, which started in September '08. As you can see from the signature, we were licensed just under 4 months from the first class. Now we're just waiting for the phone to ring.

Can you tell me anything about the homestudy? What they look for or what needs to be done? Did you get some kind of list that you could go by?

I would wait until you get a call before you buy the carseat if you want an infant carrier for a newborn. I had time to run out and buy a car seat before I got my son and I LOVED my carrier car seat. It was SO nice to put him in there and carry him to the car and when we got where we needed to be, just pull the carrier out. Especially if he was sleeping, there would be no need to wake him up. And then there is also the grocery story where I would just put the carrier into the shopping cart. SUPER nice! I would really recommend that for an infant. I even got the kind that snapped right into the stroller that came with it. Ah, the easy days! As far as the homestudy, they will give you a list of things to do. I thought the home inspection was a breeze.

HAHA! Sounds like it was a real Kodak Moment! On a sultry July afternoon, a certified carseat technician and I spent 40 minutes scrambling around in the back seat of my Subaru, trying to install an extremely large, extremely expensive Britax. We were both soaked with sweat and chanting Very Bad Words. She walked away muttering something about emailing both Britax and Subaru and giving them a piece of her mind...