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What is NYC’s Safe Sleep Initiative? STRATEGY BRIEF

SAFE CHILDREN

Since 2015, New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), in strong partnership with five other city agencies, has implemented a multipronged approach to reduce sleep-related fatalities. This brief highlights the history, core elements and outcomes of this work, and is accompanied by a Bright Spot brief that details the initiative’s key implementation activities and considerations.

The journey ACS has been engaged in safe sleep awareness activities since 2004. With an average of 50 infants per year dying from preventable sleep-related injuries, ACS knew it needed to raise awareness and provide families with the tools to keep their children safe. At that time, they conducted a public awareness campaign using a variety of communication strategies to eliminate unsafe sleep fatalities. However, ACS soon realized this goal could not be achieved by its agency alone; it needed to be part of a communitywide effort to succeed.

ACS partnered with other city agencies, such as the Departments of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), Homeless Services, and Aging; Health + Hospitals; and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, to further spread the message and educate the community about the importance of safe sleep. These agencies engaged in high-level educational strategies, including videos and public service announcements, targeted education of families involved with child welfare, and the training of community partners. The relationship between ACS and the DOHMH deepened during this time as they adopted a public health approach to the work — one that involves the whole community in identifying children and families most at

Updated August 2018

What is NYC’s Safe Sleep Initiative?

SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG

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What is NYC’s Safe Sleep Initiative?

risk and intervenes early and often to educate families about the importance of safe sleep practices.

Despite this growing collaboration, the number of preventable, sleep-related fatalities continued to hover around 50 per year. During 2012-2014, ACS partnered with Casey Family Programs to provide intensive learning opportunities across city agencies and nonprofit partners on how they could have the greatest impact in changing risky infant sleep attitudes and practices. Safe sleep summits and symposia were held, bringing in experts from the field to share best practices and provide community-based trainings on how to authentically engage with high-risk communities.

In 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the Safe Sleep Initiative to further advance the city’s efforts to raise awareness about the importance of safe sleep practices for reducing child fatalities. A formal structure was put in place, known as the Safe Sleep Stakeholders Coalition, to support a multidisciplinary coalition of partners1 to spread safe sleep messages using a public health model. Today, a growing network of more than 130 partners have identified a common language and a shared set of strategies with which to disseminate safe sleep messaging in the areas of the city with the highest rates of infant mortality. In addition to the citywide coalition, an ACS Citywide Safe Sleep Initiative Unit was formed, adding five full-time community coordinators who engage directly in communities to provide education and support for parents, caregivers, and other community members around safe sleep practices.

Core elements The Safe Sleep Initiative has engaged directly with 4,111 families across all five boroughs since its inception, providing education, support, and referrals.

The Safe Sleep Initiative provides ongoing training to community providers and those working on the front line. The trainings provide concrete and effective ways to overcome resistance and facilitate behavior change, such as motivational interviewing and helping families develop a safety plan for caring for sick and crying babies at night. The initiative has trained more than 12,300 front-line child welfare staff, city workers, parents, and other caregivers in safe sleep practices since January 2016. In communities with the highest rates of sleep-related infant deaths, the ACS Safe Sleep team has also trained more than 5,300 fatherhood groups, faith-based organizations, expectant teens, health care professionals, formerly incarcerated mothers, public housing residents, and homeless families. Additionally, the Health Department has trained more than 7,000 home visitors, city employees, community health workers, parents, and day care providers in safe sleep practices.2 A cadre of more than 100 community champions, including grandparents and community residents, have also been engaged and trained to help spread the safe sleep message.

Adding to this momentum, ACS and DOHMH launched a safe sleep public awareness campaign in May 2017, which includes social media ads, and tailored ads for bus shelters, health and social services agencies, WIC centers, hospitals, and community-based organizations in areas with the highest rates of sleep-related injury deaths.3 ACS also recently partnered with DOHMH and created a new video, “Breath of Life: The How and Why of Safe Sleep,” which is now available at https://www1.nyc.gov/site/acs/about/safe-sleep.page. Frontline child welfare staff will be able to access and share it on home visits through new smartphones distributed throughout the division, and it will also be played on an active loop in the waiting areas of city agencies, such as the homeless shelter intake office.

What is NYC’s Safe Sleep Initiative?

SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES SAFE CHILDREN STRONG FAMILIES SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITIES

P 800.228.3559P 206.282.7300F 206.282.3555

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Saving lives

1 Partners include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Greater NY Hospital Association, Human Resource Association, and the New York City Departments of Homeless Services, Education, and Police.

2 See https://www.healthsolutions.org/blog/katzs-cradles/

3 See https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/acs/pdf/PressReleases/2017/0524.pdf

4 Please note that the 2017 number is preliminary as autopsy results and child protective investigation determinations are still pending in several fatality cases.

To learn more, see related resources at Casey.org/safe-sleep-NYC.

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As a result of this multilevel public health strategy driven by ACS and DOHMH, ACS-involved sleep-related infant death cases have decreased by more than 40 percent, from 39 in 2014 to 23 in 2017.4

40PERCENT DECREASE

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