Child Death Review Team
Overview
The death of a child is a community problem. The circumstances surrounding child deaths are often emotional and complex, requiring multidisciplinary, multiagency involvement. The responsibility to accurately determine how and why a child has died should be shared by a team of professionals able to disclose information relating to that child’s death. The Morgan County Child Death Review Team has been designed to fulfill this important task.
Our Goal
To decrease the incidences of unexpected/unexplained child injury and death by improving our understanding of how and why children die.
Objectives
- Identify and consistently report the accurate cause and manner of child (under the age of 18 years old) deaths occurring in Morgan County in which the death was unexpected or unexplained.
- Share information among agencies which provide services to children and families or investigate child deaths in Morgan County.
- Improve investigations of unexpected or unexplained child deaths by Morgan County agencies.
- Identify changes required in existing systems to prevent child deaths in Morgan County.
- Improve existing services and systems in Morgan County that are related to child deaths.
- Identify factors which make a child at risk of injury or death in Morgan County.
- Identify trends relevant to unexpected or unexplained child injury and death in Morgan County.
- Educate the public regarding causes of child injury and death in Morgan County and aid in defining the public’s role in helping to prevent such tragedy.
Team Members
- Morgan County District Attorney
- Morgan County Health Officer
- Morgan County Department of Human Resources Director
- Medical Examiner
- Morgan County Coroner
- Morgan County Sheriff’s Department, Homicide Investigator
- Decatur Police Department, Homicide Investigator
- Pediatrician or Primary Care Physician
- Morgan County Child Advocacy Center Representative
- Members at Large (individuals from the law enforcement and medical communities)