Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office Launches Statewide Program to Distribute Free ‘Baby in the Back’ Hangtags

The Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office launched a statewide partnership with the Department of Health (TDH) and the Department of Safety and Homeland Security (TDOS) to distribute free Baby in the Back hangtags to help prevent heat-related child deaths in cars.

Secretary of State Tre Hargett’s Office created Baby in the Back hangtags to “serve as a visual reminder for drivers to check their backseat for children before leaving a parked car” and launched the program in 2020.

As noted by Tobi Adeyeye Amosun, MD, FAAP, Tennessee Department of Health Deputy Commissioner for Population Health, “On a hot summer day, the temperature inside a vehicle can climb up to 140 degrees in a short period of time, which can cause a child to get overheated and result in serious medical issues or even death.”

Since the program’s launch, Hargett’s office reports that it has distributed nearly 500,000 hangtags to statewide partners to share with parents and caregivers of children across Tennessee.

In recent months, TDH began distributing the hangtags through regional Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinics and TDOS started distributing the hangtags through the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Tennessee Highway Safety Office and Driver Services.

Yes, Every Kid

As noted by Hargett’s office, a child dies from heatstroke in a car on average every ten days and in more than half of the deaths, the caregiver forgot the child was in the vehicle. Leaving a young child unattended in a car in the Volunteer State is illegal.

“The safety and wellbeing of our youngest Tennesseans is important to our office,” Hargett said in a statement. “That’s why we created our Baby in the Back hangtag program, to make a difference in our children’s lives by helping prevent these tragic deaths. We appreciate the Department of Health and the Department of Safety and Homeland Security for working with us to help protect some of our most vulnerable Tennesseans.”

For more information and to request free Baby in the Back hangtags, click here.

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.

 

 

 

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2 Thoughts to “Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office Launches Statewide Program to Distribute Free ‘Baby in the Back’ Hangtags”

  1. Joe Blow

    And just how much in time and materials is this worthless program costing us taxpayers.

  2. Joe Blow

    Yet another waste of taxpayer dollars.

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