|
State Spotlight - Minnesota
 Last updated: February 2008
Susan Krinkie
Child Mortality Review Coordinator
Minnesota Department of Human Services
444 Lafayette Road
St. Paul, MN 55155-3832
Phone: 651-431-4697
Fax: 651-297-1949
Email: Susan.Krinkie@state.mn.us
Tools
Reports
Mortality Statistics
Program Description
Administration
Minnesota’s Child Mortality Review Program was established in 1989 by
legislation. Funding for the program is stable. The program is housed
out of the Department of Human Services, Child Safety and Permanency Division. There
are two state level
employees that staff the program.
Teams
Minnesota has both state and local teams.
State Team: (Chairperson - Child Mortality Review
Coordinator)
The Minnesota Child Mortality Review Panel (CMR) is comprised of 29
members and meets quarterly. The CMR reviews up to six selected child
deaths or near fatalities each month. The Coordinator selects deaths
for review that are critical or could have a statewide application. The CMR focuses on systems issues and practice issues and makes recommendations to
improve the state and local child protection system.
Local Teams: (Chairperson - Multidisciplinary)
There are 87 Local Child Mortality Review Teams (LCMRT).
Reviews
The Minnesota Child Mortality Review Program reviews deaths or near fatalities resulting
from maltreatment or suspected maltreatment; deaths which are
classified by the medical examiner as homicides, suicides, accidents or
undetermined; deaths in which the child was a member of a family that
received social services within one year prior to the death; deaths
that occurred in a facility licensed by the Department of Human
Services and natural deaths classified as SIDS or SUDS. The team
reviews cases of all of the above in which the age is less than 18
years old.
Purpose
The purpose of the Minnesota Child Mortality Review program is quality assurance and prevention of
future deaths or serious injury of children by making recommendations to improve the systems that protect children from maltreatment.
Data
Standardized data reporting forms are completed for all state reviews. This
is not required by state legislation or policy. Minnesota Child Mortality Review has
access to information from state vital statistics. Death certificate data is reviewed by
the state coordinator and sent to the counties with a request to complete a
search for social services
records. This data and data from the local review reports are entered into the child mortality database. Data is
stored in a Microsoft Access database.
Annual Report
Minnesota does produce an annual report. The report is distributed to
the Commissioner, Child Mortality Review Panel members and other
Department of Health and Human Services administration and the 87 local Child Mortality Review teams. The report is
also available online.
Prevention Initiatives
Child Mortality Review findings have influenced policy changes.
Statewide examples of these changes include contributions to the
development of the Minnesota Infant Death Investigation Guidelines and
training for law enforcement to ensure standardized death scene
investigations. Local community examples include county adoption of
recommendations from the state panel regarding water safety for foster
children by revising their training manual, requiring face-to-face
sessions between the social worker and the foster parent with pools or
who lived on a body of water and annually sending reminders to foster
parents regarding safety measures. Prevention activities motivated by
Child Mortality Review findings include involvement with public health in the development
of brochures for safe sleep for infants.
Protocols
Minnesota Child Mortality Review has a variety of protocols in place including
child/infant death
investigation and confidentiality.
Training
Training is provided to local teams and panel members on a perioidic basis.
Technical assistance is provided to counties regarding their
local reviews. The trainings are not funded and are planned as needed.
|
