Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025
Morning Sessions: 8:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. (Includes 15 minute break)
20 Years of CPS Changes (CEU)
Join members of the Manufacturers Alliance for Child Passenger Safety (MACPS) as we celebrate 20 years of KIDZ IN MOTION by revisiting the last two decades of child passenger safety. In this session, we will highlight the evolution of car seat product design and norms of use. In addition, we will review updates made to car seat and vehicle regulations and testing. Finally, we will examine the progression of best practices, and discuss how we keep both Child Passenger Safety Technicians and consumers informed about changes. The session will feature interactive and engaging content, along with time for discussion and questions.
Presenters: Sarah Haverstick, James Fitzpatrick
Does this thing come with an instruction manual? A collaborative approach to navigating CPS in the healthcare environment (CEU Pending)
Child passenger safety can take many different forms across healthcare environments: Child Passenger Safety Technicians (CPSTs) meeting inpatient needs, neonatal nurses completing car seat tolerance screenings, occupational and physical therapists conducting evaluations, community-facing staff facilitating car seat distribution programs, and more. Despite this wide variety, commonalities exist across the spectrum of programs – first and foremost, sharing the goal of keeping kids safe. Another commonality is that they all lack a manual. (A bit of irony in a field where “read the manual” serves as our mantra!) Although organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Surgeons (“grey book”), and the Children’s Hospital Association offer limited recommendations or guidance for these activities, many healthcare or healthcare-adjacent staff members still struggle to determine the best ways to conduct programming in their own institutions. Through experience, many healthcare staff members have discovered that in lieu of a rulebook, the best route to a more comprehensive understanding of practices, procedures, and solutions is through discussion and collaboration with colleagues.
In pursuit of this aim, the session will involve a combination of panel, large, and small group discussions amongst healthcare and healthcare-adjacent CPSTs and advocates. Specific topics and discussion areas will be established through a pre-conference participant survey, allowing material discussed to be timely, topical, and meet the needs of session participants. In previous years, similar sessions have covered a wide variety of topics, including car seat tolerance screening procedures and outcomes, loaner program design and processes, approaches to meet the psychosocial needs of families, documentation, adaptive equipment updates, funding, and more. Participants will leave the session with new insights on approaches to conducting child passenger safety activities in healthcare environments, as well as connections with colleagues to serve as future collaborators, allowing benefits to extend far beyond the conclusion of the conference.
Presenter(s): Carrie Rhodes (Lead)
Safer Selling: Enhancing CPS Outcomes Through Retail
In this engaging extended learning session, participants will explore the critical relationship between child passenger safety (CPS) and retail, focusing on how baby gear stores can better serve families. Participants will have the opportunity to create their own business plans for opening a baby gear store, making key decisions on which car seat brands to carry, how to display and merchandise them, and the best strategies for hiring and training knowledgeable staff to guide customers and also, ultimately, make sales and stay in business so they can continue to do the work. Discussions will also address how to prevent show rooming and enhance customer experiences both in-store and online.
The session will delve into the current challenges in retail, highlighting examples of businesses that fail to provide the education parents and caregivers need to make informed decisions for transporting their children. Participants will then explore success stories from retailers and programs that are getting it right, showing how these businesses are using retail interactions to help guide new parents and caregivers through the decision-making process, ultimately improving CPS outcomes.
This session will provide valuable insights and actionable strategies for CPS professionals to foster stronger partnerships with brick-and-mortar retailers, ensuring safer journeys for children everywhere.
Presenter(s): Amy Plass, Britney Lombard, Amber Roper
After the Class: Innovative Strategies for Educating and Engaging CPSTs
Child Passenger Safety Technicians (CPSTs) are essential advocates for child safety, yet maintaining their engagement and ensuring their recertification requires innovative, tailored strategies. CPST Instructors know that most new CPSTs leave the class engaged, motivated and excited to put their new skills into practice. However, two years later when it comes time to recertify, many of them are less enthusiastic about car seats and a large percentage of them do not recertify. This constant turnover of CPSTs leads to some communities having little to no trained CPSTs for caregivers to turn to as well as an overall lack of CPSTs with the experience that can only come with years of practice. Ohio’s Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Teaching Teams have developed a multifaceted approach that has resulted in an increase in retention and proficiency. This session will examine the reasons behind declining recertification rates and lower engagement while showcasing Ohio’s creative solutions to inspire and educate CPSTs.
Participants will learn how informal yet impactful refresher courses build confidence and encourage recertification by addressing misconceptions, leveraging real-world troubleshooting, and fostering open discussions. The session will highlight innovative initiatives like manufacturing facility tours, interactive “Car Seat Road Show” challenges, and partnerships with auto shows or dealerships to provide hands-on training and reinforce best practices. Current efforts by Ohio CPS Teaching Teams will be shared with the group. Participants will receive how-to-guides that will make it easy to take home the ideas presented and customize them for their communities.
Participants will also explore how to integrate emerging technologies such as rotating car seats, anti-hyperthermia systems, and counterfeit seat detection into their educational programs while tailoring content to meet the unique needs of their communities. By identifying barriers to CPST engagement and leveraging local resources, agencies, and creative activities, participants will leave with actionable strategies to enhance CPST involvement and improve recertification rates, while fostering meaningful community impact.
To wrap up the session, moderators will break the participants up into four brainstorming groups. Each group will be assigned a topic and asked to generate ideas for a one-to-two-hour refresher/CEU session that will engage CPSTs. The topics to choose from will be 1) gaining confidence in educating caregivers 2) technical information 3) critical CPS thinking skills 4) building a CPS support system. Each group will present their ideas, allowing for feedback and further inspiration. This collaborative effort should provide a wealth of innovative session concepts that cater to engaging CPSTs effectively.
Presenter(s): Heidi Dolan, Hannah Eberlein, Chrystal Gullett, Kirsten Frissora