Child Death Review - 2019 Update

The Child Death Review Final Report was issued in July 2014. Since that time, this Office has been updated regularly on the progress made by the respondents to implement the recommendations.

There has been progress by the Department of Health and Wellness in moving forward with the recommendations involving the development of standards regarding ongoing education for healthcare professionals in the detection of child abuse and protocols between the health authority, Department of Heath and Wellness, and Child Protection Services to facilitate communicate and collaboration. Implementation of the recommendations involving information management strategies, reporting of child protection concerns, and the identification of healthcare professionals with expertise in detecting child abuse are also in progress.

Further, there have been amendments to the Children and Family Services Act, and the Department of Community Services have advised that significant policy review is currently underway. Although there have been previous policy revisions to address some of the recommendations, it is expected the more recent revisions will address the remainder of the recommendations related to policy review and development.

Most notably, the respondents created an interdepartmental working group to review the establishment of a multi-disciplinary committee or process to review the deaths and critical injuries of children in care and custody of the Province, and to review trends in deaths of all children and youth who die unexpectedly in the Province.

Monitoring of the implementation of the recommendations will continue.