Child Deaths

The death of a child is always tragic. Talking and thinking about a child's death is a sensitive and painful subject which is particularly upsetting for parents, families and carers.

Government guidance sets out the full process that follows the death of a child who is normally resident in England. It builds on the statutory requirements set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children and clarifies how individual professionals and organisations across all sectors involved in the child death review should contribute to reviews.

The guidance sets out the process in order to:

• improve the experience of bereaved families, and professionals involved in caring for children
• ensure that information from the child death review process is systematically captured in every case to enable learning to prevent future deaths.

The local Child Death Overview Panel and process covers the York and North Yorkshire area. The Panel is made up of the representatives of all key agencies.

Below are some useful links in relation to the Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) process:

• Procedure for responding to child deaths and the Child Death Overview Panel including notification forms
• Annual reports
• Support After Suicide 'Help Is At Hand'