Oregon’s child welfare agency has given itself until the beginning of next year to more adequately train prospective foster parents on safe sleeping conditions after a 4-month-old in the care of a foster parent died facing down in a style of bed linked to infant deaths.
The suggestion was part of an Aug. 29 final report on the incident, assembled by a Critical Incident Review Team which investigates systemic failures after a child known to the state’s Department of Human Services dies. State investigators suggested that the state’s foster care program add more content on safe sleep practices and commercially marketed infant products to annual or biennial training for foster parents.
The report recommends implementing changes by Jan. 1, 2026. The bassinet in use by the child’s foster parent was a DockATot with a foam pad and bumpers on the side, according to the report, a product that state officials say has been misguidedly promoted to parents as safe.
The state took over custody of the 4-month-old from a mother with years of reports alleging neglect and abuse toward the infant’s siblings over drug use and mental health issues such as paranoia. The foster parent, who was a nurse, did not appear to know what was wrong with the product they were using to hold the infant.
“Nurses are widely recognized as subject matter experts in infant safe sleep practices due to their formal education, clinical training and ongoing professional development,” the state’s report reads. “This reliance may have contributed to the Department deferring to the judgment of these individuals, rather than conducting a fully independent assessment of all sleep environments.”
The Aug. 29 report also recommends that the department review processes that check for product histories like recalls while improving its own staff capacity for infant safety inquiries. The state’s fatality report doesn’t name a specific product by DockATot, but the company made headlines in 2022 after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the sale of its DockATot Deluxe+.
Human services department spokesperson Jake Sunderland told the Capital Chronicle that the agency expects to make the training changes before the beginning of next year.
“Products such as the DockATot, baby swings, and inclined sleepers are often promoted as comfortable or supportive sleep environments for infants,” he said in a statement. “However, these items are not approved for safe sleep, as they can increase the risk of suffocation or positional asphyxia if an infant rolls or shifts position.”
The DockATot Deluxe+ has been linked to multiple cases of infant deaths, and DockATot has since agreed not to sell the product in the United States any longer, though it said it would continue to do so in other countries. The North Carolina-based company behind DockATot has also filed for bankruptcy, the Triangle Business Journal reported in June.
Child welfare researchers have long raised questions about the safety of bassinets and crib bumpers. One 2007 study involving federal data from 1985 to 2005 found 27 deaths attributable to bumper pads and 25 injuries, noting that the use of crib and bassinet bumpers “prevents only minor injuries” and “can cause death.”
By Shaanth Kodialam Nanguneri of news partner Oregon Capital Chronicle
Do you have a story for The Advocate? Email editor@corvallisadvocate.com