Website: http://www.nj.gov/dcf/providers/boards/fatality/

Tools

• New Jersey Child Fatality Review Legislation
  

• New Jersey Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board and Citizen Review Panel 2005 Annual Report, June 30, 2006
• New Jersey Unified Response to the Citizen Review Panel Recommendations, Issued July 2006
• New Jersey Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board, 2007 Annual Report, Issued June 30, 2008
• New Jersey Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board, 2008 Annual Report, Issued August 24, 2009
• New Jersey Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board, 2009 Annual Report, Issued December 2010
• New Jersey Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board, 2010 Annual Report, Issued September 2011
• New Jersey Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board, 2012 Annual Report

Mortality Statistics

• New Jersey Child Mortality Data, 2002
• New Jersey Child Mortality Data, 2003
• New Jersey Child Mortality Data, 2005
• New Jersey Child Mortality Data, 2006
• New Jersey Child Mortality Data, 2007

Administration

New Jersey’s Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board (CFNFRB) was established in 1997 by legislation. New Jersey’s CDR Program is housed out of the Division of Youth and Family Services, Department of Human Services without dedicated funding. There are three in-kind staff at the state level for the program.

The Department of Health and Senior Services received funding from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau to institute a Mortality/Morbidity Review Project. The goal of this project is to enhance the mortality/morbidity infrastructure in New Jersey by integrating functions of the New Jersey FIMR and Maternal Mortality Review in the Department of Health and Senior Services and the Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review in the Department of Human Services.

Teams

New Jersey has both state and local teams. The state level team is mandated by statute and the local teams are permitted.  New Jersey also has a Sudden Unexplained Infant Death team.

State Team: (Chairperson - Anthony D’Urso, Psy.D.)
The State Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board (CFNFRB) is composed of 13 ex-officio with expertise in the treatment and prevention of child abuse and neglect. The board also has public members. The CFNFRB meets monthly to review the deaths of active child protection cases. By law, the board can determine which fatalities receive full review. The CFNFRB also serves as a Citizen’s Review Panel.

Local Teams:
The CFNFRB has established four Regional Community-Based Review Teams with the support of the Regional Child Protection Centers that meet monthly.  They look at all categories of child death with the exception of active child protection cases.  By law, these teams must include at a minimum, a person experienced in prosecution, a person experienced in local law enforcement investigation, a medical examiner, a public health advocate, a physician, preferably a pediatrician and a casework supervisor from a division field office.

Reviews

Teams review deaths due to SIDS, suicide and abuse/neglect. Deaths of children who had a history with social services or that were state wards are also reviewed. Teams review deaths to children under the age of 18 years old. Serious injuries are also reviewed in New Jersey using the following definition, "A serious or critical condition, as certified by a physician, in which a child suffered a permanent mental or physical impairment, a life threatening injury or a condition that creates a probability of death within the foreseeable future".

Purpose

The purpose of the New Jersey CFR Program is prevention.

Data

Standardized data reporting forms are completed for all reviews. This is required by statute. Data are collected on the reviews and compiled in a database managed by the Division of Youth and Family Services. Additionally, the New Jersey Mortality/Morbidity Review Project is working to implement a comprehensive mortality/morbidity review data information system.

Annual Report

Protocols

The CFNFRB has meeting, confidentiality and child/infant death investigation protocols.

Training

The Department of Children and Families, in conjunction with the SIDS Center of New Jersey, is providing all child protection workers with safe sleeping training and awareness.