Child Death Review Teams

Abstract

One of the most well known responses to fatal child maltreatment has been the establishment of child death review teams. These are multidisciplinary work groups, comprised at the state or county level, that meet regularly to review the death of children. The goal is to study child and family characteristics and to examine the potential services that the child and family may have been receiving. With an eye toward prevention, child death review teams aim to identify missed opportunities to take protective action on behalf of children before their death. Child death review teams are governed by state statute and their operations are increasingly streamlined by the National Center for the Review and Prevention of Child Deaths. This chapter describes the activities and outcomes of child death review teams. There is wide spread use of child death review teams both inside and outside of the United States. The efficacy of review teams is unknown because of a lack of research. This chapter discusses the potential contributions that this policy and programmatic response have made in the arena of fatal child maltreatment.