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Date: Thursday, February 24, 2000
When 6-month-old Donesa Herron fell to her death last week, an issue arose.
Child abuse?
No, the autopsy revealed Donesa accidentally fell from a twin bed and landed on a floor heater, where she was burned.
Criminal neglect?
No, prosecutors determined there was no basis to charge Donesa's mother, Tekita Herron.
A shortage of baby beds among the poor?
Bingo.
Herron, a 19-year-old single mother who had two children and a part-time, minimum wage job as a store stocker, said she had no money for a crib.
She's hardly alone.
Social service officials, who try to ensure families have what they need, fall far short of keeping up with the demand for affordable or free baby beds.
"A baby bed is the top thing that people request," said JoeAnn Ballard, executive director of Neighborhood Christian Center.
"We are backed up in requests for about 25 beds. I have a girl right now ready to deliver, and she has no baby bed," Ballard said.
"Once we get in baby beds, it's basically like a back order," said Gwen Exson, program manager of United Methodist Neighborhood Centers.
"Families that called us a month ago are given top priority."
"I never have enough baby beds that meet the demand," said Sharleen Larimer, store manager of the Birthright Bargains thrift store.
Of all the items her shop carries, baby beds are in the biggest demand.
"A lot of pregnant women come in every day" looking for baby beds," said Lasandra Parker, manager of the Salvation Army Thrift Store at 340 Adams.
Until Tuesday, Kesha Brown was among the area's mothers looking for the rare, used baby bed in good condition.
The youngest of her five children, 2-month-old Laderrell Douthet, had been sleeping in bed with her.
"I would go to second-hand stores or Wal-Mart," Brown said. Her sole income is $329 a month in Social Security, she said.
Baby beds are expensive, she said. "If I found something it wasn't worth the price or something was wrong with it."
As an example of retail crib prices, the least expensive baby bed at Wal-Mart last week was $79.96, and the mattress was $24.96.
Brown's pastor, Tyronne Chambliss, also works for Neighborhood Christian Center, which had been given two donated baby beds in recent days.
Chambliss loaded one of them into a pickup Tuesday and hauled it to Brown's home in West Memphis's Courtyard Apartments.
Consumer competition apparently is one problem in providing baby beds to poor mothers.
Second-hand, or thrift stores, run by social service agencies sell to affluent and middle-income customers as well as poor ones.
"The thing that disturbs me most of all is, I have dealers coming to buy my baby equipment," said Larimer of Birthright Bargains. "A lot of dealers in the area come in and try to negotiate on the price. They say, `Keep all your baby equipment and I'll buy it all.' "
Most of the social service agencies have ways of providing a crib at no charge if families cannot afford even the thrift price.
Birthright will sometimes receive a donation of an older model baby bed that fails to meet the latest national safety regulations.
For example, the maximum space allowed between the slats that prevent a baby from falling out is 1 7/8 inch, said Fran Theos, executive director of Birthright of Memphis. The smaller width prevents tiny babies from getting their heads stuck and possibly strangling.
(However, the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association and the recommendation of the Mid-South Safe Kids Coalition both call for spaces no wider than 2 3/8 inch between slats.)
Sometimes the Birthright thrift shop will resell a noncomforming, older model as long as the bed is for an older, larger child and the buyer signs a waiver, Theos said.
Social service agencies, which take donations of baby beds and either sell them at thrift prices or give them away in emergencies, include:
-- Birthright of Memphis: Phone for pick-up, 327-8109, or deliver to 3421 Summer
-- MIFA Thrift Shop: Phone for pick-up, 529-4505, or deliver to 910 Vance
-- Neighborhood Christian Center: Phone for pick-up, 452-6701, or deliver to 223 Scott
-- Salvation Army: Phone for pick-up, 525-6676, or deliver to 130 N. Danny Thomas Blvd.
-- United Methodist Neighborhood Centers: Phone for pick-up, 323-4993, or deliver to 3000 Walnut Grove
To reach reporter Tom Bailey Jr., call 529-2388 or E-mail baileytom@gomemphis.com
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