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Co Children's' Deaths Under Investigation

November 23, 2005

Gov. Bill Owens appointed a 17-member committee of health-care and law-enforcement officials to review the deaths of children whose care is supervised by a department of a county government.

The Colorado Child Fatality Prevention Review Team will examine cases of children - from birth to age 18 - who die because of suspected abuse and neglect. The team will also review unexplained or unexpected deaths caused by motor-vehicle crashes, violence, suicide, drowning and sudden infant death syndrome.

Lawmakers were moved to create the committee after reports that 41 percent of the child-abuse and neglect deaths in Colorado during the previous decade occurred after social-service agencies were warned about problems in the home. 'The governor was trying to improve the way that the state deals with these tragedies,' said Owens spokesman Dan Hopkins. 'And more importantly, finding ways to prevent these tragedies has always been a priority for the governor.'

Mary Pat DeWald, a forensic nurse in Evergreen who was appointed to the panel, said the goal of the review team is to reduce the number of child fatalities in Colorado. An examination of state records showed that child-welfare agencies were involved before the deaths of at least 107 of 258 children who were victims of suspected abuse or neglect from 1993 through 2002, according to an investigation.

The panel appointed by Owens is expected to conduct a thorough review of the causes and risk factors of child death in Colorado. The team is also supposed to evaluate how social-service agencies and law enforcement respond to children at high risk. The state's fatality-prevention review team is required to provide a report to state lawmakers during the first week of the annual legislative session.