In an effort to support parents and caregivers to make sure a child fits securely in a car seat, Public Health – Seattle & King County is hosting free child car seat check-up events — including one in Newcastle— in east and south King County.

The Newcastle event will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 29 at the Coal Creek Family YMCA, 13750 Newcastle Golf Road.

Attendees should bring their car, car seat and child/infant to learn how to properly install the car seat. The event will be an opportunity for parents or soon-to-be parents to have their child safety seat checked by a certified child safety seat technician for safe installation.

Educational materials will be available as well.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends keeping children up to 2 years old in rear facing seats or until they have reached the maximum height and weight limits of the car seat as allowed by the manufacturer. They advise that most children will need to ride in a belt-positioning booster seat until they have reached 4 feet, 9 inches tall and are between 8 and 12 years of age.

Among children under age 5 in passenger vehicles, an estimated 244 lives were saved in 2008 by restraint use. National research on the effectiveness of child safety seats has found them to reduce fatal injury by 71 percent for infants younger than one year old and by 54 percent for toddlers in passenger cars.