One of the most important things a state can do to ensure transparency about child maltreatment fatalities, near fatalities and egregious incidents is to notify the public when such an incident is reported. Without such notifications, legislators, advocates, and the general public will know if an incident has occurred only if it is covered in the press. Press coverage is usually triggered when criminal charges are filed in court. But all too often, there are no charges because there are no witnesses, the other parent may cover for the perpetrator, or the death may be treated as an accident (e.g., a child’s death due to fentanyl ingestion). Therefore, it is important for all states to issue prompt notifications when they receive a report that a child has died, or nearly died, under suspicious circumstances.
We have identified only 11 states that currently post notifications about any child fatality, near fatality, and/or egregious incidents. These states include Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania1, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. The table documents key aspects of notifications in each state, including which cases are included, what information is provided, and the timing of the notification.
The cases that are subject to notification vary on several dimensions: (1) the type of incident (fatalities only, fatalities and near fatalities, or egregious incidents as well); (2) whether notices concern cases that are reported, accepted for investigation, or confirmed as maltreatment; and (3) whether the affected child must have had current or recent involvement with the child welfare agency. There is a range in the cases subject to notification. Oregon is at one extreme. The public is notified of only child fatalities, only if the agency reasonably believes the death was the result of child maltreatment, and only if the child was in agency custody or the family had contact with the agency within the past year. Nevada, provides notifications on a much broader range of cases: any child fatality or near fatality when the child has been the subject of a report of possible abuse or neglect at any time, including the report of the fatality or near fatality.
The information provided in these notifications also varies greatly between states, from very limited (Pennsylvania includes the child’s age and gender, the date of the report, whether the incident was a fatality or a near fatality, and the county that will be convening a review team) to much broader (Arizona provides details about the circumstances of the event and the child or family’s history, if any, with the agency). From the public’s standpoint, it is particularly important for notifications to include whether there was any previous involvement of the perpetrator, victim, or family with child protective services; Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin do not release this information through their initial notification process, though they do reveal this information in later reports or summaries.
Finally, states vary as to whether there is a timeframe prescribed for these notifications as well as the promptness of notifications when there is no timeframe. Prescribed timeframes range from two to five days from the incident or the report of it. States without prescribed timelines take a variety of time to post, ranging from as little as 24 hours (in Florida) to several months (in Pennsylvania).