Child death investigations: review teams.

Existing law authorizes each county to establish an interagency child death review team to assist local agencies in identifying and reviewing suspicious child deaths and facilitating communication among persons who perform autopsies and the various persons and agencies involved in child abuse or neglect cases. Existing law also authorizes each county to develop a protocol to be used as a guideline by persons performing autopsies on children to assist coroners and other persons who perform autopsies in the identification of child abuse or neglect, in the determination of whether child abuse or neglect contributed to death or whether child abuse or neglect had occurred prior to but was not the actual cause of death, and in the proper written reporting procedures for child abuse or neglect, including the designation of the cause and mode of death. This bill would make the establishment of an interagency child death review team and the development or adoption of a protocol mandatory for each county no later than January 1, 2025. By making these requirements on counties mandatory, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires each child death review team to, no less than once each year, make available to the public findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the team, including aggregate statistical data on the incidences and causes of child deaths. This bill would instead require each child death review team to meet these requirements no later than July 1 of each year and to post this report on the internet website of the county. Existing law requires the Attorney General, subject to available funding, to develop a protocol for the development and implementation of interagency child death teams that could be used by counties. This bill would require the Attorney General to complete and publish the protocol on their internet website and to update it every 4 years no later than January 1, regardless of the available funding. Existing law requires multiple state departments to share data and other information necessary to establish accurate information on the nature and extent of child abuse- or neglect-related fatalities in California as those documents relate to child fatality cases. Existing law also requires the California State Child Death Review Council, among other things, to oversee the statewide coordination and integration of state and local efforts. This bill would require the Department of Justice and other agencies and organizations involved to collaborate on allocating statewide responsibilities for these provisions between, at a minimum, the State Department of Health, the State Department of Social Services, and the Department of Justice. The bill would require the Attorney General to submit a budget to the Governor and the Legislature that is sufficient to fund the council, among other things. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.