Last updated:  April 2010

Susan Rodriguez
Family Health Research & Program Development, Rm. M-355
Texas Department of State Health Services
1100 W. 49th St.
Austin, TX 78756
Phone: (512) 458-7111
Fax:  (512) 458-7658 
Email:  Susan.Rodriguez@dshs.state.tx.us

Website: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/mch/Child_Fatality_Review.shtm

Tools

• Texas Child Fatality Review Legislation
• Texas State Child Fatality Review Team Committee CFR Team Operating Procedures 
• Texas Legislation Moving Child Fatality Review from Social Services to Public Health

Reports

• Texas Child Fatality Review Team Biennial Report, 2002-2003
• Texas Child Fatality Review Team Biennial Report, 2000-2001
• Texas Child Fatality Review Team Annual Report 2006
  
• Texas Child Fatality Review Team Annual Report 2007
  
• Texas Child Fatality Review Team Annual Report 2008
  

Mortality Statistics

• Texas Child Mortality Data, 2002
• Texas Child Mortality Data, 2003
• Texas Child Mortality Data, 2005
• Texas Child Mortality Data, 2006

Administration
The Texas Child Fatality Review Program was established in 1995 by legislation. In the past few years, it has been primarily funded by the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) and the Department of State Health Services (DSHS).  However, legislation passed by the Texas Legislature in May 2005 transfers responsibility, including funding, for the program completely to DSHS in FY 2007.  Included in this funding are grants given to local CFRTs.  Each team receives approximately $1,000 per year for training purposes. DSHS will provide 2.5 FTEs in kind and a DFPS staff person will be assigned to serve as the agency liaison to the program. 

Although the coordination for the Texas Citizen’s Review Panel is housed out of the DFPS, it is independent of the child fatality review process. 

Teams
Texas has both state and local CFR teams. 

State Team:
The Texas State Child Fatality Review Team (SCFRT) is comprised of 24 members that meet quarterly. DSHS is responsible for assisting the SCFRT in the development of model protocols for reporting and investigating child deaths, data collection and the establishment and training of review teams. 

Local Teams:
Texas has 65 local teams that cover 190 counties. There are 64 counties without CFR teams. Local team leadership and membership varies from county to county. 

Reviews
The death certificate is the basis for the review and is sent to local team coordinators from the Vital Statistics Unit located at the Department of State Health Services. They are accompanied by birth certificates with medical information on the mother and newborn if the child is under two years of age. Texas teams would ideally like to review all child deaths underage 18. Larger cities such as Dallas, Houston and San Antonio have FIMRs supported by local health departments and hospitals that look at premature infant deaths. 

Purpose
The purpose of the Texas CFR Program is to improve the response to child fatalities, provide accurate information on how and why Texas children are dying and ultimately reduce the number of preventable child deaths by taking data into prevention practice . 

Data
Local teams are responsible for collecting and entering data on the child death reviews on the multi-state online reporting system.

Annual Report
The State Team Coordinator works with other DSHS staff, the DFPS liaison and the SCFRT to write the bi-annual report, which is distributed to the Governor, Legislators, agency heads and child advocates. 

Prevention Initiatives
The State Committee has actively advocated for the passage of laws that would require use of child passenger booster seats, and that was finally passed in the latest legislative session. The State Committee has also issued numberous Position Statements that have been used as the basis for prevention activities: Safe Sleep for Infants, Motor Vehicle Safety for Infants and Children; and Water Safety for Children.

Protocols
Texas has a child death scene investigation protocol in place. 

Training
Through the generosity of the Title V program, training is provided to the members of the local teams and the members of the State Committee. Annually, the CFR program co-hosts a conference with the Children’s Assessment Center of Houston. Title V sponsors the attendance of two members per local team and of all State Committee members. In 2009, Title Vgave a wone-time grant for conducting one-day workshops in each of the eight public health regions in Texas.. These workshops were attended by over 450 CFR team members and others interested in maternal and child health and child safety. Training was provided on the best practices of CFR, and risk-specific training was provided on preventing motor vehicle crash deaths and preventing youth suicide (both National Title V Performance Measures) and on a third topic of the region’s choice (safe sleep, preventing premature births, preventing agricultural injuries). In all training, the links are made between the review process and the goal of prevention, and on the very multidisciplinary nature of Child Fatality Review.