Community Service   

Shaken Baby Syndrome

Every year an estimated 3,000 children are diagnosed with a form of child abuse known as Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS). SBS is a medical term used to describe the injuries of an infant’s or young child’s brain and/or spinal cord caused by the violent shaking to a child by a frustrated caregiver.

Even though SBS is recognized as the most common cause of death by abuse in infants and young children, studies reveal that up to 50 percent of the population is unaware that shaking a child, even one time, can cause brain damage, seizures, blindness, paralysis, learning disabilities or even death.

The Junior League of York’s volunteer efforts, along with funding from the Pennsylvania Children’s Trust Fund, enable the League to educate numerous individuals in the York community about the dangers of shaking a baby and the prevention of the potentially fatal syndrome.

The project reached out to educate both children and adults through a middle school education program, Safe Sitter classes, Boy and Girl Scout troops, the prisons, Mother-Child clinics, a fathering program, abuse shelters, a mobile kiosk and health fairs across York County.