Transcript Slide 1

David P. Kelly, J.D., M.A.
Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau
Liz Oppenheim, J.D.
Walter R. McDonald & Associates, Inc.
Ying-Ying Yuan, Ph.D.
Walter R. McDonald & Associates, Inc.
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Conducted 9/26/2011 through 9/25/2012
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Study Purpose
◦ Identify promising practices for fatality reviews and
furthering collaboration among reviews
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Study Components
Literature Review
Review of Recommendations and Outcomes
Site Visits/Telephone Interviews
National Meeting
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Developing Best Practices for Fatality Reviews,
Part One: A Tool for Planning and SelfAssessment
Developing Best Practices for Fatality Reviews,
Part Two: Summary of Findings
Fatality Review Teams: A Literature Review
A Review of State and Local Fatality Review
Team Reports: Recommendations and
Achievements
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Child Abuse and Prevention Treatment Act
(CAPTA)
The Child and Family Services Improvement
and Innovation Act of 2011
GAO Report: Child Maltreatment:
Strengthening National Data on Child
Fatalities Could Aid in Prevention (July 2011)
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The overall rate of child fatalities was 2.10 deaths per
100,000 children.
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81.6% of all child fatalities were younger than 4 years old.
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Boys had a higher child fatality rate than girls
◦ 2.47 boys per 100,000 boys in the population
◦ 1.77 girls per 100,000 girls in the population
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Nearly 90 percent (86.5%) of child fatalities were comprised of
African American (28.2%), Hispanic (17.8%), and White (40.5%)
victims.
Four fifths (78.3%) of child fatalities were caused by one or
more parents.
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The different types of reviews
Membership
Governance and structure
Case information and data
Shared perspectives
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50 States and the District of Columbia have
an active CDR program (at the State and/or
local or regional level)
Many child welfare agencies conduct internal
child fatality reviews
200 Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR)
programs in 40 States
144 Domestic Violence Fatality Review
(DVFR) teams at the State and local level
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Military Child
Fatality Review
Maternal
Mortality
Review
Internal Child
Welfare Agency
Review
Regional Child
Fatality Review
State Child
Fatality Review
Local Child
Fatality Review
Child Fatality
Citizen Review
Panel
Fetal & Infant
Mortality Review
Elder
Death
Review
Domestic
Violence Fatality
Review
Military Domestic
Violence Fatality
Review
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Membership
◦ All are multidisciplinary
◦ May not always have all the needed representatives
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Administrative Homes
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Data collection
◦ Many different administrative homes
◦ All team processes include data collection activities
◦ For some teams, legislation provides access to needed
information
◦ Some teams rely on information brought to reviews by
team members
◦ Some teams conduct interviews with family members
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Authorizing legislation and policy
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Most States have legislation authorizing or enabling CDR
CRPs required as part of 1996 amendments to CAPTA
FIMRs are commonly guided by State public health law
Importance of legislation for DVFR teams acknowledged
in the literature
Purpose & Timing
◦ Team purposes within types of teams vary
◦ Retrospective
◦ Immediate
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Scope of Review
◦ Varies widely within types of fatality review teams
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Deaths and serious injuries are sentinel events.
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They are markers for the health and safety of a community.
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There are multiple environmental, social, economic, health and
behavioral factors that may be related to child fatalities
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These factors are so multidimensional that responsibility for a
death or injury does not belong to any one agency or
organization.
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Reviews focus on what went wrong and how can we fix it, not
who is at fault and who should we blame.
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The best reviews are multi-disciplinary.
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Most of the recommendations were for:
◦ increasing public awareness and education
◦ improving policies and legislation
◦ strengthening organizational capacity
Agency, persons, or organizations often not
identified
Many global statements indicating that parents
should make specific changes in behavior or that
communities should provide particular supports or
services
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No mention of collaboration to enhance injury
prevention
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CDR and FIMR teams made recommendations
regarding SIDS
DVFR teams acknowledged the impact of DV on
children
All teams acknowledged that collaboration
among many agencies and providers was
necessary in order to effectively implement
recommendations
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CAN Related Recommendations
◦ 78.8 % of the recommendations pertained to some
type of educational activity
◦ 28.5 % of the recommendations were for parent
education
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Non-CAN Related Recommendations
◦ 78.8 % of the recommendations pertained to some
type of educational activity
◦ 27.5 % of the recommendations were for parent
education
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Implementation of Recommendations:
Literature Review and Site Visit Findings
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Commitment to prevention
◦ Each team member must commit to use review information to
educate their own agencies and advocate for needed
changes
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Dissemination strategies
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Disseminate reports far and wide
Select the right messenger(s)
Work with the media
Make in-person presentations
Increasing Likelihood of Implementation
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Include people with authority to effect change
Conduct advocacy with legislators and elected officials
Implement a separate Community Action Team (CAT)
Develop memoranda of understanding regarding next steps
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Many fatality review team reports did not
discuss the accomplishments of the team
A majority of reports did not link their
accomplishments to specific
recommendations
Public awareness was the primary
achievement reported
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Many of the deaths share similar risk factors
Many of the issues need to be addressed by
multiple systems
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Overlapping recommendations for prevention
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Identify strategies for working together
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Efficient use of resources
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Enhance the effectiveness
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Enhanced outcomes
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How many different types of child fatality and related
reviews are being done in your State/community?
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Has your State/community conducted an assessment of
the multiple reviews?
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What are some of the reasons you might want to conduct an assessment?
What would it take to develop a plan for assessing these reviews?
What would be the overriding objective?
How would you justify the time and resources?
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How can you maximize what is learned from the various
reviews?
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How could these reviews help child welfare?
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What role does child welfare play in these reviews?
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CAPTA defines near fatalities as:
◦ an act that, as certified by a physician, places the child in serious
or critical condition. (106(b)(4))
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In the child welfare context:
◦ Several items in CAPTA refer to fatalities and near fatalities at the
same time, e.g.
 Must have provisions which allow for public disclosure of the
findings or information about the case of child abuse or neglect
which has resulted in a child fatality or near fatality. (106(b)(2)(B)(x))
◦ Near fatalities refer to children rather than acts
◦ Near fatalities are children who are in a specific condition
 What is serious and critical?
◦ Near fatalities depend upon a physician having found that the
child is in a serious or critical condition and reports to this to
cps.
 CPS may determine that not a matter of child abuse or neglect.
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Traumatic Brain Injury (may lead to death and
permanent injury; can be mild to severe/critical)
◦ Nearly half a million ER visits for TBI by children 0-14
◦ Very young 0-4 have highest rate of TBI related ER visits
(1,256 per 100,000)
 474,000 ER visits; 35,000 hospitalizations; 2,174 deaths
◦ Males 0-4 have the highest rates of TBI related ER visits,
hospitalizations, and deaths
◦ TBI caused by falls, motor vehicle injuries, struck by or
against, assault, and unknown (21%); also firearms and
sports related concussions
◦ 62% increase in fall related TBI seen in ERs for children
0-14, 2002 to 2006; rate of deaths decreasing
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Source: www.cdc.gov/TraumaticBrainInjury
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Boys 10-14 high rates of TBI related firearm
injuries
Children die of TBI resulting from lack of seat
belts in traffic accidents; 25% of child deaths
unrestrained
◦ MMWR May 6, 2011 www.gov/mmwr/
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We do not know how many children die of
shaken baby syndrome or may suffer injury
from being shaken.
◦ Boys are more likely to be injured than girls.
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Serious:
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Vital signs unstable and abnormal
Acutely ill
Indicators are questionable
Likelihood of death less, but requires close supervision
Critical:
◦ Vital signs are unstable and abnormal
◦ Person may be unconscious
◦ Indicators are unfavorable but death is not necessarily
imminent, can be stabilized and downgraded
◦ Usually requires care in a intensive care unit
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Both are related to status while in the hospital
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Child In
Hospital
CPS
Determines
Child Abuse
Near
fatality
Severe or
Critical
Condition
Physician
Reports
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Hospital
CPS
Train ICU and
ER doctors
Train staff in
public health
perspective
Work with
hospital
administrators
Collaborate
with
community
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Near fatalities may be an important
intersection of work between CW and PH
Concerns are similar
Access to information is with the medical
profession
Response will be with the medical profession
and the child welfare profession
New avenues for planning, coordination, and
collaboration?
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Do we have definitions of near death, beyond the
CAPTA definition?
Have we engaged our local hospitals?
Have we engaged the local chapters of the:
◦ American Association of Critical Care Nurses (500K)
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Do we understand enough about critical care?
◦ American College of Emergency Room Physicians (note
often move from hospital to hospital)
◦ Society of Critical Care Medicine
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What are our objectives in addition to counting?
Who are our most likely partners?
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