Cribs for Kids

The ‘Back to Sleep’ campaign has been sweeping the country since 1992. Emphasizing placing healthy babies on their backs for sleep rather than on their stomachs, this campaign proved to be a source of hope yet, at the same time this change was viewed with skepticism by parents, caregivers and medical professionals.

Thanks to a well-orchestrated public relations campaign including a proliferation of articles in magazines and newspapers, newscasts on television and radio, billboards, buscards and ‘Reduce the Risks’ brochures, we are happy to report a 50% drop in SIDS rates since the beginning of the campaign.

With so much emphasis being placed on the importance of protecting babies from potential harm during sleep, many cases of accidental suffocation of infants during sleep have also come to the forefront. In Georgia during 2003, the Georgia Child Fatality Review Board found that 121 infants died of SIDS-related causes. Of these deaths 77 were classified as Sudden Unexplained Infant Deaths (SUID) - a category created to explain deaths that appear to be SIDS but have other risk factors that could have contributed to the death. Only 35 of these infants were found in a crib at the time of death, much more common were adult beds, couches and play pens. Overwhelmingly these contributing factors were an unsafe sleep environment. Twenty infants additionally died as a result of another person rolling over on them during their sleep, and five infant died having been found wedged between the bed, couch back and a wall or other object. Many of these babies did not have a safe place to sleep. Their cribs were either old and not fit for use, they were in environments filled with loose blankets, pillows or toys, or they had no cribs and were sleeping on a couch or an adult bed. By comparison, 12 infants died in Georgia in automobile accidents in 2002. Who would suspect that beds and couches might be a greater hazard to babies than automobiles? We have worked hard to ensure that all babies have safe car seats. Now we need to ensure that every baby has a safe place to sleep, and is placed there.

For many years, Georgia SIDS Project, formerly the SIDS Alliance of Georgia, has provided education and training to help prevent infant deaths. And bereavement support to parents whose babies have died.

Now the Georgia SIDS Project is embarking on a new project so that with your help, we can reduce the number of babies who die in a potentially unsafe sleep environment.

"Cribs for Kids" will provide needy families with high risk infants with the most basic of needs for their babies: cribs and bedding to help prevent unnecessary and tragic deaths. The project is a cooperative program with your local health department – who help identify families in need, and provide the crib, home visits and education to improve infant sleep safety.

There are many parents in Georgia with extremely limited income and little or no extended family support. These families often make do with older unsafe cribs or no cribs at all. Some families who have heard about the "Back to Sleep" campaign cannot afford a crib for their baby. SIDS rates among African American infants are twice that of the general population. We must strengthen and extend our education programs into these communities with hands-on, on-site programs that can be implemented in homes, daycare centers, churches, community centers, schools and hospitals; and involve local civic, service and social groups to assist in these efforts. "Cribs for Kids" is a true hands on program designed to provide both an appropriate sleeping environment-a crib-and education regarding safe sleep for babies to the families who most need the information.

"Cribs for Kids" was developed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to address the issue of babies dying when placed in unsafe sleeping environments. SIDS Pennsylvania has provided 2200 cribs to low-income families in Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties in the past four years. None of the children who received cribs through this program have subsequently died of SIDS. The program has been so successful, it is credited by local and national officials with dramatically lowering SIDS deaths in Allegheny County and is being hailed as a national model.

The Georgia SIDS Project will adapt this successful program with the goal of eliminating tragic infant deaths that could be prevented if every baby had a safe place to sleep. Already over 30 cribs have been distributed in the Moultrie and Lincolnton Georgia as a start to the program. See our Cribs for Kids brochure for some of their stories.

To make a donation to the Cribs for Kids Project, please contact:
Diane Manheim, MSW Director
3562 Habersham @ Northlake, Building J, Suite 3
Tucker, Georgia 30084

Direct - 678-342-3360 or thru Powerline 1-800-822-2539

It is possible to make your donation by check or credit card. Donations in honor or memory of someone are acknowledged to the person or family with a card. Contributors names, if desired, are shared at our annual SIDS conference.

A $100 donation covers the complete cost of a crib, mattress, fitted sheet and sleep sack (a safe blanket alternative) for each child.

If your organization is interested in by sponsoring a local fundraising event please contact us. All funds raised locally stay in the community.

The Georgia SIDS Project is a non-profit 501c3 organization and is recognized by the State of Georgia Charitable Campaign with designation code - # 160000.