Child death reviews

When a child up to the age of 18 dies, there are certain processes that have to be followed to:

• help us understand the reasons for the child's death
• enable us to address the possible needs of other children and family members in the household

Developing a better understanding of child deaths, and considering lessons we can learn from each case, helps us develop more effective prevention strategies for safeguarding children's welfare in the future.

Child death overview panel

All safeguarding children boards in England and Wales have a child death overview panel and rapid response process to meet the requirements of safeguarding children statutory guidance.

Rapid response involves a group of key professionals coming together to undertake an enquiry and evaluation of every unexpected death of a child, and to provide support or ensure that the family are already being supported with their loss.

Read the serious incident notification and rapid review process for Barnsley.

What the panel identifies

The child death overview panel collects and analyses information about each death to identify:

• cases that may require a serious case review
• matters of concern affecting the safety and welfare of other children
• any wider public health or safety concerns arising from a particular death, or a pattern of deaths

The panel does not take over from the work of the coroner, local safeguarding children partnership, police, health service, social care or any other agency undertaking investigation of serious untoward incidents.

Reports

Read our latest child death overview panel report.