Infant/child Car Seats for Children in Need

Hi! You got great feedback here so, I just want to add my experience. I live in Dallas but I'm from Puerto Rico. Everytime I visit my family my mom borrows from the Fire Station a Car Seat for me because she is disable.

So, I know for a fact the Fire Stations have a Federal program for low income people or disable. They borrow Car Seats to low income families. They will have to provide proof of receiving some sort of aid from the goverment like food stamps, wic, etc. Or proof of Disability. The families will have to renew their Car Seats for as long as they need to.

Honestly, if she needs a carseat that's heartbreaking. I can only hope she's in an infant seat now and simply outgrowing it. I would not know how to make sure the family follows up and obtains a free seat, nor if they are even available. And since a carseat is the most important thing a child owns, you might be the angel giving this to her, if you can. You don't want her to end up with a used seat (no way of knowing its history).

I would go to Target and get the Cosco APT 40. It rear-faces to 40 lbs. (and FF to the same), is a light seat and easy on the budget, and is usually under $40 depending on the deals. It is a good seat and could save her life; it happens to be very budget friendly, too. Comes in adorable girl colors, too! My kids fit these until age 4, and 3 in the rear-facing position. Make sure to include some sort of note or print out that kids should remain rear-facing to age 2 minimum (in English and Spanish, just in case). A lot of people just don't know how to safely use a carseat, so your help can go a long way!

Bless you for considering giving her such an important gift!

I understand where you are coming from BUT! If you took an angel and their request was a car seat you are sort of morally obligated to get that car seat.

I can't tell you how awful it feels to go to sign up for this program and consider carefully what is put on that list and tell specific items needed or wanted. Them to go to the Salvation Army to pick up your kids gifts and find it's clothes instead of the bike they were really really wanting that you could never afford. They have closets full of clothes since everyone gives you tons of hand me downs and they get more clothes instead of the bike...that was so hard. I had to go pawn my wedding rings and go buy a bike just a few days before Christmas due to this.

Plus the clothes were on clearance and the wrong size so we ended up giving them to a local charity. We couldn't use them...

So if you really don't want to spend the bucks to get them a car seat you might see if the angel tree still has kids on it then exchange your little ones name for one that has the gifts on it that you'd really like to give.

I know your heart is in the right place, this is not something that everyone even thinks of doing. I appreciate what you are doing. Just please get them the items they listed, that's what they are really really hoping for.

The fire department and often the local Health Department will get car seats for kids BUT they have to have the funds allotted for that and we all know how many programs for the poor have been cut and cut and cut and cut over the last 4 years. Now even more of them are being cut out.

The other posters had good ideas. I would also check around at local churches. You may also call a reputable daycare in your area that might be able to further direct you. Also check Craigslist! Thank you for helping others during the holiday season!

When my daughter was born we had to use the car seat safety program to get a carseat for her. It was a $25 "donation" and even if you couldn't afford anything, you still had to make a donation. I think I ended up paying $15.

They were difficult to find; and even after I did talk to the lady in charge, we had to play phone tag for over a week. I can see a lot of parents being too overwhelmed to do this and follow through. It was a long drawn out process and one that was not user friendly. This was the only place I could find in the Portland area that had carseats to help those in need. When I went to the Babies-r-us trade in sale, they made all the prices regular or nonsale prices so even with the 20% off they were still way too expensive, especially when compared with Target and Wal-mart.

Please be a helping angel and get her a less expensive carseat that doesn't come with extra hoops and stress. But, if you do the leg work and see its not too difficult, then maybe that would work for them. But, you should do as much as you can for them. Just finding the number isn't enough sometimes.

Thank you for helping those in need. If only we all could do it, the village we live in would be so much better off.

Our local children's hospital gives them to families that need them, you may check with them too.

I would also contact the fire department or whoever runs the carseat safety inspection in your area. They should be able to direct you to low cost options. They may require that the family fill out need information for themselves, but you can do the initial legwork for them. I would also encourage them to use a convertible seat - one that will serve their infant from now til the max height/weight of the seat, both RF and FF. It will save them money. If you know someone who has an expired seat, you can see if a baby store will take it for a discount on a new seat. Babies R Us does promos like that here and there. We purchased both our seats from http://www.albeebaby.com/view-all-convertible-car-seats.html and were pleased with their service. I also agree to look into the Cosco. At the end of the day, every seat must meet standards and the child is not safe in an outgrown seat or no seat.

I would also provide them information on where to get the seat inspected in your area. It really does help.

Call your local fire stations, and call the city. I know our city has free carseats for anyone who needs them. I would think with a 7 month old, she is looking for a convertible car seat...not an infant one.

Check with your local Dept of Motor Vehicles...I know here they have a division that checks carseats and has "loaners" too.

I just did a quick search online and this is what I found...

http://www.ehow.com/info_###-###-####_lowincome-car-seats...

When I read your So What Happened that there seemed to be a lot of requests for carseats and musical toys, i am wondering if the Salvation Army suggests they ask for them for the future for a specific child (angel) or whether the SA is trying to build an inventory of car seats to serve their clients throughout the year? The need for car seats goes beyond the holiday season. The Giving Trees are a wonderful way to share the Christmas spirit. There are lots of organizations that do provide free loaner carseats, but sometimes it is hard to find or qualify for the seats.