January-March 2008 Quarterly Newsletter Volume 6, Issue 1 "The Review" Office of Child Fatality Review Letter from the Director: Happy New Year!! As a new year approaches, we often stop to reflect back over the passing year. We consider our joys as well as our sorrows and weigh what could have been done differently. The staff of the Office of Child Fatality Review wishes to extend our deepest sympathies to those families who lost a child this year. We, along with all child fatality review teams across the state, are committed to continue the work of reviewing child fatalities, which is to understand the circumstances of child deaths with the belief that what we learn will protect other children and spare families this overwhelming grief. To all child fatality review team members, I sincerely offer thanks for the sometimes thankless work that you do with pride and conviction. Your dedication and persistence has influenced legislation, changed state agency policies, corrected child death data, but most importantly said to all the citizens of the State of Georgia, saving lives of children Child Fatality Review is possible if we act on lessons learned. You have demonstrated that when we put our differences aside and join our minds and hearts together, we CAN make an impact on the life of a child. I applaud you and encourage you to continue County of the Year: the valuable work that you do. Thank you, and have a very happy new year! Eva Pattillo Executive Director, Georgia Child Fatality Review Winter is Here!! Safety Tips for Friends and Family! January 2008: National Birth Defects Prevention Month Join the March of Dimes by encouraging access to comprehensive employee assistance programs, creating pregnancy-friendly worksites to reduce physical and emotional stress, and provide educational opportunities about healthy food and pregnancy nutrition at worksites February 2008: Inside this issue Burn Awareness Week (February 3-9) Hundreds of children have died in house fires in Georgia over the past ten years. Encourage Letter from the 1 your friends to install smoke detectors in their home, practice their fire escape plan, and desig- Director nate an outdoor meeting spot for the family in the event of a fire emergency. Teach children to Safety Tips to Share 1 NEVER go back inside a burning house for anything after they have left Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week (February 7-14) Fire Prevention 2 National Condom Week (February 11-15) Annual Report 2 Avoid unplanned pregnancies and unprepared parents by encouraging condom use in your community. Studies show that unplanned and unwanted babies born to unprepared parents are 2007 CFR Reports 2 at high risk for abuse and neglect Panel Profile Page 3 March 2008: Prevention Plan 3 National Brain Injury Awareness Month County Prevention 3 Educate your community on the dangers of shaking a baby. Studies show that up to 75% of Efforts shaking victims can survive the assault, although often they may have severe blindness and a permanent loss of muscle control. Children who have suffered an abusive brain injury need Upcoming Events 4 constant care and treatment, which is expensive for a family and devastating to a community CFR Timelines 4 Fire Prevention: Please use Care and Caution with Heating! According to the State Insurance Commissioner, heating equipment combined with human error is involved in nearly all home heating fires in the U.S. - fires that are preventable. Some very common errors associated with home fires include failing to clean chimneys, placing portable or other space heaters too close to furniture, bedding, or clothing; and improper fueling and venting of fueled heating devices. Winter heating safety tips include: Make sure that all fueled heat sources are properly vented, including fireplaces and wood stoves. This includes having the chimney inspected for creosote and carbon deposits Ensure that space heaters are at least three feet away from furniture, walls, or anything that burns If your space heater burns a fuel, make sure the heater cools down before refueling it Make sure that a wood burning or coal stove has an approved stove board underneath to protect the floor Make sure you have working smoke detectors installed on every level of your home, including outside of sleeping rooms. Install detectors inside sleeping rooms if you sleep with the doors closed Practice a fire escape plan with your family and make sure that everyone knows two escape routes from any room in the home For more information, please visit the Georgia Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner webpage at: http://www.gainsurance.org/CONSUMERS/SafetyTips CFR Annual Report and Training Schedule Information from the 2005 Annual Report will be posted on our website in January 2008 (www.gacfr.dhr.georgia.gov). Each member will receive a copy of the Executive Summary Report, a brief data compilation of those child deaths that occurred in 2005. The full report, with all appendices, tables, graphs, and data findings, will be available for you to download and print from your computer As many of you know, the delay in receiving death certificates (which are used as a reliable data source) has prohibited OCFR from publishing our annual report within the usual timeframe. For this reason, it is our hope to provide you with a two-year report in December 2008, which would provide analyses of those child deaths occurring in 2006-2007. In addition, OCFR staff will begin training for all CFR committee members in April 2008. To assist those who are new to the CFR process, the OCFR staff will also provide online training modules (available in February) to assist new CFR members in understanding the basic roles and responsibilities on the committee. This "beginner training" opportunity will allow those who are new to or unfamiliar with CFR to know more about agency membership, eligible child deaths, the CFR reporting form, and how to develop a successful prevention recommendation. The online training will not replace or substitute for the regular training class, but will give some of you a chance to "catch up" and understand more advanced data and investigation tools once in the class. You will be notified when the online tutorial is available. Update on 2007 Child Death Reports In an effort to keep our data consistent with yours, we want you to know how many notifications of child deaths were reported to us in 2007, and how many complete reviews were received on these deaths. As of November 30th, we have received notification of 434 child deaths from various sources, including GBI, DFCS, coroner reports, and news sources. Of those 434 cases, we have received 143 thorough and complete online reports for child deaths (yea!!), but we have 268 cases with no committee reports. Some of these cases may not be eligible for review, but we need YOU to share your investigative information with us. Please let us know if any of the deaths assigned to your county are not eligible for review by CFR committee, or if the case should be reviewed by a different county (county of residence). Please call the Office if you are in one of the following counties: Baldwin, Banks, Bartow, Bibb, Brantley, Brooks, Bulloch, Burke, Camden, Carroll, Charlton, Chatham, Chattooga, Cherokee, Clarke, Clayton, Cobb, Coffee, Cook, Coweta, Crisp, Dade, Dawson, Decatur, Dekalb, Dodge, Dougherty, Effingham, Emanuel, Fannin, Fayette, Forsyth, Franklin, Fulton, Glynn, Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall, Haralson, Harris, Henry, Houston, Irwin, Jackson, Jasper, Jeff Davis, Lanier, Laurens, Liberty, Long, Lowndes, McDuffie, Mitchell, Montgomery, Morgan, Murray, Muscogee, Newton, Paulding, Peach, Pickens, Pierce, Polk, Putnam, Rabun, Richmond, Stephens, Sumter, Telfair, Tift, Troup, Twiggs, Upson, Walker, Wayne, Webster, Whitfield, Wilcox, Worth. It's your teamwork that helps all of us succeed!! Page 2 CFR Panel Profile Page Vanita Hullander, Catoosa County Coroner As a coroner for Catoosa County, Vanita handles every death investigation. She bases her findings on the scene investigation and autopsy results, and reports those to law enforcement for their evaluation. She is also a member of the CFR Panel, and has been for ten years. She feels that the CFR Panel is one of the most important committees in the state because they do the critical work of child death data collection and dissemination. A lot of the statistics that the Panel collects drives many of the safety plans and prevention plans throughout the state. She says of the Panel, "it is a wellrounded and diversified group, with all levels of talent and education working together to benefit children in Georgia. The Panel has grown a lot in the last 10 years and I see that they are becoming an intricate part of child abuse awareness and prevention and intervention." When asked about her thoughts on the importance of CFR, she says, "It's a hard job to be on a CFR committee, and an even harder job to be on a child death investigation team. I give my hat to anybody who wholeheartedly wants to make a change!" She goes on to say, "CFR committees are charged with a lot of responsibility after a child's death, and are in a position to drive the community toward saving other children from the same fate. While they may not have been able to prevent that child's death, they may be able to prevent a lot of others in the future." Her advice to the county committees: "If you know of a tragedy in the community, you can share information and get people thinking as a community." Vanita hopes to inspire the county committees in their work and says: "keep on keepin' on"! Update on the Statewide Child Fatality Prevention Plan The Georgia Child Injury and Fatality Prevention Plan continues to be in development. A draft of the plan is nearing completion and will soon be distributed to the Prevention Committee of the Child Fatality Review Panel for review and comment. The plan includes broad goals with accompanying strategies, data on injuries, a listing of recommended and promising programs, and tools for communities to use in developing interventions. Over the next two months, the Plan development team will receive feedback and comments, and further refine and edit the plan. A final draft should be available for distribution among communities for your review. The Prevention Committee of the Panel will work with local committees to identify opportunities for community members to learn about the plan, give feedback, and discuss implementation in their county. County Prevention Efforts in 2007 Heartland Ranch in Catoosa County is an innovative approach to help those children who deal daily with developmental, physical and emotional disabilities to improve the quality of their lives and develop skills for their futures. One hundred beautiful acres including a fishing pond, hiking and riding trails, large state-of-the-art covered horse arena and a 42-stall barn is the setting for programs and camps available to under-serviced populations. Programming for behavioral modification, confidence building, and emotional and spiritual healing for abused and low-income/ high-risk youth are assisted through mentoring. Equine-assisted therapy, leadership camps, and vocational training are conducted by professionals and trained volunteers. For more information, call 706-935-8453 Sgt. Mike McGuffey of the Coweta County Sheriff's Office attended a child abuse training in Carrollton in late August to learn the state model protocol for handling cases of abuse. He was so impressed with the training that he did a press release to the Newnan Times-Herald. In it, he says: "Opportunities such as these keep us networking... The object of this training is to be able to provide better services to victims of abuse and often to those victims' families." He goes on to say: "In some counties, DFCS and law enforcement don't work together like they should. It is essential that we all work together because we are different agencies with the same goal. The most important thing is the safety of the children." McGuffey hopes the state model will eliminate any confusion with protocol and help victims of abuse in every county in Georgia receive the highest level of assistance available. Do you have a great program or idea that you want to share? Let us know and share your story with others! We look forward to hearing from you! Together Everyone Achieves More Please submit your stories of success or other ideas by March 14, 2008 to: The Office of Child Fatality Review 506 Roswell Street, Suite 230 Marietta, Georgia 30060 Phone: (770)528-3988 Fax: (770)528-3989 www.gacfr.dhr.georgia.gov Page 3 Upcoming Events January 26, 2008: Southern Conference on Children at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro. For childcare providers, teachers and parents; offering workshops on discipline, development, sexual abuse prevention, and more! Call 912-681-5551 for more information. March 18-20,2008: Building Successful Teams: Child Abuse Injury, and Fatality Conference at the Waverly Hotel in Atlanta. Free online registration begins January 14. Ongoing: Child Passenger Safety Technician classes sponsored by the Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute (GTIPI). Classes held in Camden, Rockdale, Fayette, Dougherty, Columbia, Toombs, and Habersham counties. Visit www.ridesafegeorgia.com for registration, or call 1800-342-9819. GTIPI can also help you become a trained P.R.I.D.E. instructor to educate teens in your community on safe driving behavior. Call 1-800-342-9819 today! CFR Deadlines and Timelines Please also take a moment to nominate your county CFR committee or county coroner for the CFR awards! Our two prestigious annual awards bring statewide praise and acclaim to all those winners who have exhibited diligence and fortitude in promoting child injury awareness, reporting and/or prevention efforts. Previous winners of the coveted "CFR County Committee of the Year" and "CFR Coroner of the Year" have gone on to receive multiple state, national and even international accolades. Winners have been asked to showcase their teamwork and knowledge by hosting training events for other CFR teams, including an opportunity to host a training session for a CFR team developing a program in the United Kingdom! Previous county committee winners include: Floyd County in 2007, Clayton County in 2006, and Houston County in 2005. Previous CFR coroner winners include: Mickey Barfield of Macon County in 2007, Vanita Hullander of Catoosa County 2006, and Lori Camp of Harris County in 2005. Can we add YOUR name to this impressive list? Nominate your team today! Please remember to finish developing your county Prevention Plan by February 2008. Many counties began work on their Plan during the 2007 CFR training classes. This Plan will provide your committee with step-by-step guidelines for child injury and fatality prevention. If you have questions about your Prevention Plan, please call our Office at 770-528-3988. ****** If you would like to receive this newsletter in your email inbox, or if you would prefer to access the newsletter on our website, please contact the Office to remove yourself from the mailing list***** Office of Child Fatality Review 506 Roswell Street, Suite 230 Marietta Georgia, 30060 Phone: 770.528.3988 Fax: 770.528.3989 Website: www.gacfr.dhr.georgia.gov PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT#292 MARIETTA,GA In an effort to facilitate information sharing, we have developed this newsletter to bring us closer. Knowing that our goal is the protection of children and the prevention of child deaths, we want to include your experiences and ideas to improve the quality of services we provide. Please contact us with any suggestions on how to make the Office of Child Fatality Review process helpful to you. Go Team!