Kids Can’t Fly: A Childhood Injury Prevention Program

Abstract

Kids Can’t Fly is a prevention program from Boston aimed at preventing the phenomenon of very young children falling out of windows. Kids Can’t Fly targeted the needs of the highest risk population—i.e., those who are of low socioeconomic status. In so doing, Kids Can’t Fly addresses the complex relationship between adequate supervision and socioeconomic status by combining environmental interventions, a safety device for the window, with effective modes of disseminating both information and the safety device itself. Kids Can’t Fly worked with community stakeholders and experts to choose, provide, and install a device in windows that would physically stop children from falling out. Also, Kids Can’t Fly worked with local agencies to communicate to parents about the real prevalence of this problem. This prevention program achieved remarkable results.

Appendices

BRIO Model: Kids Can’t Fly

Group Served: Children aged 0–6.

Goal: Prevent young children from falling out of windows through the use of safety guards.

Background	Resources	Implementation	Outcome
1971: New York residents express concern about the epidemic of window falls among children; Children Can’t Fly program is created and sustained 1993: Boston residents express concern about a similar epidemic. New York Program provides a model for the inception of Kid’s Can’t Fly 1994: Ordinance developed in Boston to promote voluntary compliance 1996: Kids Can’t Fly program assign primary responsibility for guard installation to property owners and managers rather than residents 1998: The annual budget was $60,000US. Funded consistently by the office of Mayor Menino	Currently the CIPP is granted a budget of $250,000US for three injury prevention programs Childhood Injury Prevention Program (CIPP) equally share the cost of window guards with property managers or owners Program run by three full-time staff members and two part-time staff members CIPP continues to accept the main responsibility for program direction Variety of stakeholders provide significant human capital Program has a range of media at its disposal for educational purposes (e.g., brochures, advertisements, mini-workshops)	Range of educational and outreach strategies employed to reach target populations A variety of cultural and linguistic groups are targeted A suitable window guard was selected and recommended by Boston Public Health A range of stakeholders participate in various components of the program’s implementation Community residents and property managers played an active role Data has been gathered on stakeholder involvement, rates of guard installation, sales levels, and injury rates Voluntary Adopt-a-Building campaign further facilitated guard installation	By 1997, 11,400 guards were installed in the Boston area By 1998, the media campaign reached an estimated 381,000 people through major and local newspapers There have been 7,520,000 PSA radio announcements in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole Kids Can’t Fly resulted in an 83% decrease in the number of window falls from 1993 to 1995; and a 50% decrease between 1993 and 1997 (US Department of Health and Human Services, 1998) In 2000, there was a 95% reduction in window falls since the inception of the program and a total of three falls in 2000 In 2005, there was only one reported fall from a window

Life Space Model: Kids Can’t Fly

Sociocultural : civilization/community	Interpersonal: primary and secondary relationships	Physical environments: where we live	Internal states: biochemical/genetic and means of coping
Awareness raising that window falls do occur and are preventable Use of public health agencies to deliver and promote prevention messages Policy development and legislative support for a falls prevention program Multi-faceted approach that includes community health practitioners, residents, property managers and owners, local merchants, housing agencies, and local and city-level governments	Relationship among caregivers and community health and housing agencies to increase knowledge and education of window fall risk and prevention Relationship between property managers/owners and the CIPP to share responsibility for window guard installation	Hard surfaces in the urban landscape Laws of gravity Evaluation of the characteristics of the built environment to adopt appropriate preventative measures Adoption of appropriate window guard technology	Empowerment of caregivers and property managers and owners by offering training on installations Ownership of safety initiatives by property managers/owners through a “buy-in” program of window guards