The Shaken Baby Prevention Program is a hospital-based maternity education program designed to decrease the number of child abuse and shaken baby syndrome victims in Alabama. Through partnership with the Children's Trust Fund of Alabama and the Alabama Child Death Review System, post-partum parents are educated via our interactive program on:
- the dangers of shaking small children and
- taught healthy ways to respond to infant crying before they leave the hospital with their new baby. The program has been introduced and is in early stages of implementation at a variety of birth hospitals in Jefferson, Shelby, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa counties. We hope to one day expand to the entire state of Alabama.
The Shaken Baby Prevention Program is also active in the greater community.
- We administer community and school education events as well as trainings for nurses, social workers, and childcare providers,
- We are supporting Alabama legislation to provide shaken baby syndrome/child abuse prevention education in all birthing hospitals and licensed daycares throughout the state.
- We are also developing a methodology to estimate the number of shaken baby syndrome cases in Jefferson County and throughout the state.
