Prosecuting Attorney Representative

Local Child Fatality Review Team: Role of the Prosecuting Attorney Representative

Child Fatality Review (CFR) is a multidisciplinary process to help us better understand why children in our community die and to help us identify how we can prevent future deaths.

Local Child Fatality Review Teams will meet with varying frequency to review sudden, unexpected, and unexplained deaths, deaths investigated by DCS, and those deaths classified as undetermined, homicide, suicide, or accident, for all children under the age of eighteen. Team members will share case information on child deaths that occur in their region with the goal of preventing future deaths. In order for this team to be successful, all agencies involved in the safety, health, and protection of children must be involved.

The death of a child is a tragic event. Reviewing the circumstances involved in every death is part of our job as professionals and requires our time and commitment. Only then can we truly understand how to better protect our children and prevent future deaths from occurring.

• The prosecuting attorney representative can provide the team with information on:
  • Case status and previous criminal history for family members and suspects in deaths the team is reviewing
  • Definitions for legal terminology, concepts, and practices, as well as explanations about when a case can or cannot be prosecuted
• The prosecuting attorney representative can support the team by:
  • Assisting in the development and implementation of strategies in the legal and criminal justice systems to prevent child deaths and serious child injuries
  • Assisting in the development and implementation of strategies to improve the prosecution of child deaths and serious child injuries
• The prosecuting attorney representative can help build bridges by:
  • Learning about the policies and practices of other agencies through team participation
  • Acting as liaison between the CFR team and prosecutor offices in other jurisdictions
  • Explaining to the team how to improve coordination among prosecutor offices and other agencies