Adaptive Car Seats

Madonna’s Lincoln Campus is one of four regional referral centers for the Nebraska All Kids Ride Safe Program, which aims to make sure families who have children with disabilities or medical conditions which result in special needs have access to the right kinds of car seats.

It is funded by the American Automobile Association (AAA), Nebraska Office of Highway Safety (NOHS), and the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

The program addresses two common barriers:

Access to specially trained and certified child passenger safety technicians to determine the most appropriate child passenger seating system for their particular condition

Access to a variety of car safety seats and restraints.

Madonna currently has five staff who are certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians, four of whom have completed additional training called "Transporting Children with Special Health Care Needs" and developed by the Automotive Safety Program at James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children.

Madonna's specially trained Child Passenger Safety Technicians complete an evaluation and make recommendations regarding most appropriate special-needs child safety seat and/or conventional restraint for the child, and the most appropriate vehicle for transporting the child. Money from the Nebraska All Kids Ride Safe Program was used to purchase a variety of special needs child passenger safety seats and restraints, which Madonna maintains and lends to families.

Once the evaluation is complete and the family agrees to take a special car seat on loan, the Madonna Child Passenger Safety Technician provides education to the parents and/or other caregivers on the correct installation and use of the seats and/or restraints. Parents do not pay for the use of the equipment, but do pay a one-time cleaning and replacement fee of $25.

For more information about the Nebraska All Kids Ride Safe program, contact Kristin Luethke at kluethke@madonna.org