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State Spotlight - Maryland
 Last updated: April 2010
Joan Patterson, Coordinator
State Child Fatality Review Team (SCFRT)
Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
CMCH State of Maryland
201 W. Preston St. Room 309
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: 410-767-6727
Fax: 410-333-5233
Email: Jpatterson@dhmh.state.md.us
Website: http://fha.maryland.gov/mch/cfr_home.cfm
Tools
Reports
Mortality Statistics
Program Description
Administration
Maryland Senate Bill 464 created child fatality review, state and local
Citizens Review Panels and the state CAN Council. CFR is mandated
but not funded. The program was established by statute (Section
5-701 et
seq.) in 1999. It is housed out of the Center for Maternal and Child
Health (CMCH), Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. There is one
employee at the state level. CMCH also administers the Fetal Infant Mortality
Review (FIMR) program.
Teams
Maryland has both a state and local CFR teams which are mandatory in each county. CFR also serves as one of the three CAPTA Citizen Review Panels, the others being the State Council on Child abuse and Neglect and the State Board of the Citizen’s Review Board for Children.
State Team Chairperson: Richard Lichenstein, MD
There are 25 members on the Maryland State Child Fatality Review Team
(MSCFRT). The Governor appoints the members which includes 11 citizens
with expertise or interest in child safety or welfare, 12
representatives from state agencies and two pediatricians who are
members of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The team meets quarterly. The state team created
a policy manual of guidelines to assist local teams with the child fatality
review process.
Local Teams:
Local teams are mandated to be multi-agency and multi-disciplinary.
Maryland has 23 county based review teams and one city team (Baltimore).
Teams conduct retrospective/periodic reviews. Local teams
advocate at the local level through letters to the media and
recommendations to agencies. They also identify education and training
needs at the local level.
Reviews
Maryland CFR teams review deaths to children ages 0-17. Local
teams may elect to review deaths up to 21 years of age. Teams
review all causes of deaths.
Purpose
The purpose of the Maryland CFR Program is prevention of child deaths.
Data
Reports are completed at the local level on the child deaths that are
reviewed. A staff support person from the Center for Maternal and Child
Health tabulates CFR reports and updates the State Team.
Annual Report
Maryland CFR produces an annual report. The report is issued to the
Governor, the General Assembly and state and local CFR members.
Prevention Initiatives
CFR findings have motivated
prevention activities in the areas of motor vehicle crashes, pool and lake drownings,
house fires, SIDS, homicides, suicides and natural means.
Training
Each year the State CFR Team conducts an annual meeting for training and education for local CFR team leadership. The 2009 meeting presented a panel discussion on “Child Deaths and Domestic Violence”, featuring experts from the State’s Attorney’s Office, the family violence unit of a highly populated county, and the House of Ruth, which serves abused women and children in the state. There were also presentations on “The Prevention of Pediatric Window Falls” and “ The Howard County Motor Vehicle Safety Program.” Local teams are encouraged to hold trainings on a variety of topics, especially on topics such as safe sleep, and team members are routinely given information about good conferences and webinars available to them.
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