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As part of National Child Passenger Safety Week activities, Stevens Point Child Safety Center staff member Natalie Wall reads a booster seat safety book to a 4K class at CAP Services’ Children’s Discovery Center in Stevens Point Tuesday, Sept. 20.

Certified technicians from the Stevens Point Child Safety Center/Safe Kids Portage County performed car seat safety checks at CAP Services’ Children’s Discovery Center in Stevens Point Tuesday, Sept. 20, as part of National Child Passenger Safety Week.

“Road injuries are the leading cause of unintentional deaths to children in the United States,” said Joanne Peotter, Stevens Point Child Safety Center director. “Car seats can dramatically reduce the risks to child safety, but only if they are installed and used correctly and consistently.”

The event was part of more than 500 community car seat safety events across the country held as part of the Buckle Up program supported by the General Motors Foundation.

Peotter said correctly-used car seats can reduce the risk of death by as much as 71 percent, but that 73 percent of car seats are not used or installed correctly. Safety check events, such as the one at Children’s Discovery Center, allow trained and certified experts to directly assist parents in the correct use of car seats.

“We are excited to partner with the Stevens Point Child Safety Center on this event,” said April Niemi, CAP Services’ assistant director of Early Childhood Development. “Our work is focused on creating a safe and caring environment for children as well as engaging parents in their child’s development. Ensuring the safe use of car seats is an important part of that process.”

For more information about Stevens Point Child Safety Center, including information about upcoming safety checks, call 715-341-7328.
To learn more about CAP Services’ Children’s Discovery Center, visit capservices.org/cdc.

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The Stevens Point Child Safety Center, Inc. is a local organization dedicated to the prevention of avoidable childhood injuries and deaths. As a Safety Center and Safe Kids Coalition, it focuses on the prevention of injuries and deaths to children caused by motor vehicle crashes, bike crashes, poisons, falls, fires/scalds, and drownings.

Buckle Up addresses the greatest cause of preventable deaths and injuries to children in the United States and around the world. In 1997, Safe Kids teamed up with General Motors and the General Motors Foundation to create the Buckle Up program. What started with a focus on child safety seat checks at GM dealerships has grown into a broad multifaceted program, which addresses child safety in and around cars. It also includes activities that advocate for stronger state child passenger safety laws.

CAP Services, Inc. is a private, nonprofit community action agency that has been advancing social and economic justice for low-income people in Marquette, Outagamie, Portage, Waupaca and Waushara counties since 1966. CAP’s Children’s Discovery Center, located in the Portage County Business Park in Stevens Point, offers quality child care, on-site four-year old kindergarten, and educational services to children ages six weeks to six years.