Last updated:  September 2011 

Dr. Pamela D. Tabor, DNP - Forensics, WHNP-BC, SANE-A
Director of Arkansas Infant & Child Death Review Program
College of Medicine, Dept. of Pediatrics
Center for Applied Research & Evaluation
Arkansas Children’s Hospital
1 Children's Way, Slot 512-26
Little Rock, AR 72202-3591
Phone: 501- 350-1844
Fax: 501-364-1552
Email: PDTabor@uams.edu

Website: http://www.accardv.uams.edu

Tools

• Arkansas Child Death Review Legislation

Mortality Statistics

• Arkansas Child Mortality Data, 2002
• Arkansas Child Mortality Data, 2003
• Arkansas Child Mortality Data, 2005
• Arkansas Child Mortality Data, 2006
• Arkansas Child Mortality Data, 2007

Administration
The Arkansas CFR State Team was legislatively established in 2005 as a committee within the Arkansas Commission on Child Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence. The team is required to include members from Nine specific professions and additional professionals as needed. 

Teams
The Arkansas CFR Team is currently administrative in nature, and although the State Team has granted authority to the Arkansas Quality Foundation Baby Steps program to conduct Infant Mortality Reviews in two counties, Arkansas currently does not have a team that reviews all unexpected deaths of children under 18 in a county.

Many members of the State CFR Team are also a part of the DCFS External Death Review Team, which reviews deaths of children who have had contact with DCFS within 12 months of his or her death.

State Team Chairperson: Dr. Merlin Leach

Reviews
The enabling legislation allows the state team or any local/regional team granted authority by the state team to review all cases of unexpected deaths of children under the age of 18, except those under criminal investigation, prosecution or that have been adjudicated in a court of law.

Purpose
The purpose of the Arkansas CFR Team is to identify the causes of death of children under 18 & to reduce the incidence of injury and death to children by requiring a death review to be performed in all cases of unexpected deaths of children under 18.

Data
The State Team currently does not review cases and no local teams have been established.

Annual Report
An annual report is made to the legislature. The 2010 report will be completed in March of 2011.

Prevention Initiatives
The collection of data on the causes of unexpected deaths will enable the State of Arkansas to protect some infants and childrenfrom preventable deaths and help reduce the incidence of these deaths. Multi-disciplinary and multi-agency review of infant and child deaths can assist this state in investigating infant and child deaths, developing a greater understanding of the incidence and causes of these deaths and methods of prevention and identifying the gaps in services to children and families.

Protocols
The State CFR Team has the authority to develop state and local protocol prior to review of child deaths by local teams. Confidentiality provisions are included in the enabling legislation.

Training
The Arkansas Commission on Child Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence, in cooperation with the Arkansas Coroner’s Association and the Medical Examiner’s Office has provided two regional Sudden Unexplained Infant Death Investigation (SUIDI) trainings for coroners and deputy.