Reviewing child deaths?learning from the American experience

Recommendations from child fatality review teams: results of a US nationwide exploratory study concerning maltreatment fatalities and social service delivery

“…As multidisciplinary teams, it is common for US CFRT to be comprised of representation from the legal, child welfare, medical, 'Reports of child maltreatment fatalities have climbed over the past 30 years' 'The current study focuses on the aggregate outcomes of child maltreatment fatality reviews' Review teams have gained support and recognition by professionals, advocates and decision-makers-as evidenced by their popularity throughout many parts of the developed world (Brandon et al, 2005;Bunting and Reid, 2005;Reder and Duncan, 1999). The widespread use of the review model indicates a degree of faith in the outcomes of the reviews.…”

Child Death Review Processes: A Six‐Country Comparison

“…Variation in the way in which CDR is undertaken across states and provinces in Australia, Canada and the US means that there is no standardised method of data collection in these countries, making comparability of child death data between states and the identification of national trends virtually impossible (Bunting and Reid, ). However, in the US, 36 states use a standardised web‐based case reporting system developed by the NCCDR and funded by the MCHB.…”

“…CDR teams originated in the US. The first team was developed in Los Angeles County, California in 1978 by Michael Durfee (Axford and Bullock, ; Bunting and Reid, ). Durfee argued that national and state mortality statistics which relied on the International Classification of Diseases (WHO, ) to define cause of death underestimated child fatalities attributable to abuse and neglect, whereas, a multidisciplinary review process which involved information‐sharing among social services, law enforcement, child welfare, public health and the coroner would reduce the risk of deaths being misclassified (Johnston and Covington, ).…”

“…The National Center for Child Death Review (NCCDR) has compared processes across the US (National Center for Child Death Review, ), and Alcalde and Elster (); Webster et al . (); Bunting and Reid () and Hochstadt () have also examined CDR in the US. Douglas and Cunningham () reviewed recommendations from CDR teams in 37 US states.…”

Child mortality: preventing future child deaths and optimizing family support

“…Nowadays nearly half of the US states review child deaths from all causes [16]. In the late 1990's, CDR was introduced in Canada and Australia [34] followed by New Zealand and the United Kingdom (UK) [30,127,177]. The implementation of CDR differs between these countries; not solely in the collection of data but also in legal foundation, focus, funding, family involvement and the location of the actual review [29,30].…”