Recently, a Los Angeles County case was ruled on by the California
Supreme Court. The case stems from a situation where the parents of
several children suffered a terrible, and likely preventable tragedy,
resulting in the death of an 18 month old girl. The parents did not
have a child safety seat when transporting the baby (the baby was
sitting in the lap of her Aunt) and their car was hit by another driver
who ran a stop sign.
Current law provides that all children under age 8 or are shorter than 4'9" must be secured in a safety seat in the back seat of the car.
This law, which took effect on January 1, 2012, is a significant change
from the prior law, which only required a booster seat if the child was
under 6 years of age or less than 60 pounds. Under either law, this
child was not properly seated in the vehicle (lap sitting is never
permitted). What is worse for these parents is that, on top of losing
their baby, Los Angeles County Child Protective Services (CPS)removed
the other two children from the parents' care due to their demonstrated
neglect. The California Supreme Court upheld the LA County CPS's action
in removing the children,
Justice Marvin R. Baxter,
writing for the court (who ruled unanmously for LA County CPS), said
"when a parent's or guardian's negligence has led to the tragedy of a
child's death, the dependency court should have the power to intervene…
even if the parent's lethal carelessness cannot necessarily be
characterized as sufficiently 'gross,' reckless, or culpable to be
labeled 'criminal.' "
This should be a warning to all
parents. The law is clear and unambiguous. If your child is under age
8, then they need to be in a car seat in the back seat of the car,
unless they are taller than 4'9" (in which case they may be restrained
by only a seat belt but must still be in the back seat). Failure to
follow this law can result in death or removal of your child from your
car. The risk just isn't worth it.
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