On a lovely early summer evening, over 200 guests, friends, and supporters of KID gathered at Galleria Marchetti to celebrate and honor our 2017 Best Friend Award honorees: the Segal Design Institute at Northwestern University, Michigan Engineering at the University of Michigan, the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. We are so gratefull to all our supports and sponsors who made the night a great success! Check out pictures from the event on our Flickr page. If you missed our event this year, you can still donate and help support KID's mission.

On May 28, KID latest research report, Choking Hazards: Are Current Product Testing Methods for Small Parts Adequate?, was published in the International Journal of Pediatrics. Current testing methods to prevent choking hazards involve a device called the small parts test fixture (SPTF) -- if the product fits within the SPTF, it is too small for children under three years of age. Our question was: does the SPTF, in its current form, adequately prevent choking hazards? We proposed increasing the size of the SPTF in order to reduce the number of incidents, injuries, and deaths due to choking. Read the full article here. 

One question that we frequently get at KID is:  What is considered the "life of a product?" How many years can a product really last and still be safe?  Our Executive Director, Nancy Cowles, says that it really depends on the product: "Standards for some products are constantly being updated for safety based on known incidents. The old products that might have the hazard aren't always recalled."  We recommend doing some research to evaluate whether older products or secondhand products are still safe to use. Register all durable children's products so that you will be alerted in the event of a recall. For more information about the "lifespan" of specific products, such as car seats, helmets, or cribs, click here.

At KID, we want to take the guesswork out of shopping for safe infant and children's products -- especially those designed for sleep. Earlier this month, KID's Program Associate, Carson Gaffney, travelled to West Virginia to present new safe sleep resources at the Our Babies: Safe and Sound Competency Training for hospital safe sleep and home visiting program staff. The KID Safe Sleep Checklist lets parents and caregivers quickly evaluate whether a product is safe by asking key questions, including: Does it have extra padding, soft surfaces, heaving coverings, or cords? Has the product been recalled? Has it been tested to meet mandatory safety standards? For more information on safe sleep, click here.