Annual report of inquiries into the deaths of children known to Child Protection 2010

• Office of the Child Safety Commissioner

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30 July 2010This is the fifteenth annual report of the Victorian Child Death Review Committee, an independent, multidisciplinary ministerial advisory body that responds to deaths within the Child Protection population.

The annual report serves two related, but distinct, functions. First, it provides quantitative and demographic data about the deaths of all children referred to the Child Safety Commissioner by the Department of Human Services, in accordance with the provisions of the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005. These deaths are also placed within the context of an analysis of trends in child deaths from 1996. Second, it provides qualitative analysis of child death inquiries reviewed by the VCDRC in the reporting period between April 2009 and March 2010.

In 2009, the Department of Human Services notified the Child Safety Commissioner of 26 child death cases that were in scope for a child death inquiry. Of the 26 child deaths notified to the Child Safety Commissioner, eight deaths were attributed to acquired/congenital illness; four to non-accidental trauma; two to accidents; two to suicide; one to SIDS; one to substance use and one was unable to be ascertained by the coroner. Seven deaths have been categorised as pending determination; however, this number will decrease once formal determination of the cause of death is known. Three of the 26 child deaths in 2009 were of Aboriginal children.