Broome County Health Department Awarded Child Safety Grant
— $182,168 to form Child Fatality Review Team —
BINGHAMTON, NY - Today, Governor Paterson announced the twelve recipients of child safety grants totaling $1.17 million. The Broome County Health Department was awarded an $182,168 grant that will support the creation of a countywide Child Fatality Review Team (CFRT). This team will build upon the current work of the Family Violence Prevention Council and will draw together professionals from the Health Department, Department of Social Services, Mental Health, District Attorney's Office, local forensic pathologists, County Coroners, law enforcement, hospitals and emergency medical services to create a comprehensive formal case review.
“These funds will allow us to strengthen the children's safety and well being in our community.” said Executive Fiala. “Our agencies and their partners will act as a integrated unit to respond to fatalities and build targeted preventative campaigns. I thank Governor Patterson and our leaders in Albany for this support and commitment o improve children's safety.”
The CFRT will carry out comprehensive evaluations of local child fatalities. Through their combined efforts, the team will be able to increase public awareness, lead prevention efforts, provide response and reporting training, and carry out centralized data collection and analysis.
“We have to work together to understand the underlying causes of why children die. This gamut can include everything from abuse and neglect to unintentional injury leading to accidental death. We have an obligation as a community to protect our children and maintain their safety.” said Claudia Edwards, Health Department Director. “The CFRT will have the benefit of an experienced, long-standing multidisciplinary team that investigates reports of suspected child abuse and neglect to review all child fatality cases.”
The Family Violence Prevention Council put forth the effort to create a countywide child fatality review team to improve multi-agency response and effort. No formal process existed to collect and review data in a cohesive multidisciplinary manner. With the CFRT in place, agencies will be able to better respond and spearhead efforts to prevent child fatalities.
“This grant gives the County an opportunity to be pro-active in preventing child fatalities,” commented Arthur Johnson, Commissioner of Social Services. “We will have the resources to analyze information related to these tragedies that will help us to strategically develop preventive activities.”
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Published Date: 04-21-2008
