This fourteenth annual report of the Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee provides a summary of the Committee’s reviews and analyses of child deaths and serious injuries, and the steps it has taken to make and monitor the implementation of findings and recommendations arising from them.
This includes analyses showing that between 2005 and 2018:
- deaths due to drowning, a deliberate act by another person, and fire-related deaths all peak in the one to four year age group
- transport-related incidents are the most common cause of death for young people aged 15-17 years
- twenty-eight percent of children who have died, or their families, had had contact with the child protection system in the three years prior to their deaths.
In the reporting period for this Report, three in-depth reviews were submitted to the Minister for Education:
- a review into the death of a young Aboriginal child prompted recommendations about the ways in which the child protection system holds itself responsible and accountable for a child’s safety.
- a review into the death of a child with disabilities who was in the care of the State, found that generally, systems had worked well to provide this child with a good quality of life.
- a second review into the death of a child with disabilities who was receiving services from multiple agencies, found that each agency worked diligently to try to improve the quality of this child’s life, but that these efforts did not meet this child’s complex needs.
The 2018-19 CDSIRC Annual Report is available for download.