The people who investigate deaths of children are learning how to do it better. Each county has a child fatality review panel that investigates the circumstances of the death of children up to their 17th birthday. The Department of Social Services has started a series of 14 training sessions for those teams. The Department’s Gus Kolilis says the investigations are paying off. The program is ten years old. Kolilis says it forces the various interests that investigate the deaths of children to pool information – and that has led to new ways to determine that a child has not died naturally. This year’s training sessions are focusing on shaken baby syndrome.New research on impacts and bleeding patterns, among other things, are being given team members to help them better detect unnatural deaths in children. The seminars continue through September.
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