A quick update on the continuing saga of the Hard Mfg. (medical grade) cribs. In an article published in the Texas Childcare Quarterly, the question of the use of medical cribs in Child Care facilities was asked. The answer was that medical cribs, if they are registered with the FDA as medical devices, do not have to be CPSC compliant (which we already knew), but then they stated that as long as you had documentation by a health care professional for a child with special care needs, you could use these cribs. So, on the one hand they admitted what we already knew that they are totally different than consumer grade cribs but they also brought in the little pesky tidbit about documentation!
Anyway, thanks to Dawn Weeks, at Lakeshore Baptist in Granbury, for bringing
this issue to the forefront again. A very similar note was published back in the summer and Celeste Albaugh at Travis Avenue discovered that. Martha Harkins, at Hunter’s Glen Baptist Church in Plano, has been valiantly working on this issue for months. We spoke earlier this week and decided it is time to go forth and either poke that sleeping dog or slay the dragon. We really need a definitive answer on this issue. My hope is that even if they decide no medical cribs in licensed facilities that we can maybe get them to “grandfather” in the existing cribs and just make this effective for new facilities. Hopefully, we can be in contact with people with open minds who will listen to our concerns. Make this a prayer request! This is just for Texas. We’ll tackle other states later. South Carolina has ruled that only CPSC compliant cribs may be used in their licensed facilities. That is the only state that I am aware of so far.
Those of you that have medical cribs like Hard Mfg. or Pedicraft and do not have licensed childcare centers should be ok unless the Federal government changes its mind. Right now I feel pretty good about their original statements (but remember this is the government!)
On another note, for those of you with wooden cribs – if you have not replaced them – I can help.
Please feel free to call me with questions or concerns 1-800-588-4031.
