Child fatality review boards are familiar to many health, social service and legal professionals. Such boards (also called “teams” or “committees”) review suspicious or unexpected deaths of children by reviewing the specific circumstances of a child’s death. Following the review, the board may recommend prevention measures so that a similar death does not occur in the future. Similar boards exist in the domestic violence field. The object is to identify accurate historical information regarding the victim and perpetrator in order to detect trends, and to monitor the impact and efforts of health, social service, and justice agencies in an effort to reduce the number of fatalities (or near-fatalities) due to domestic violence.

To ensure its maximum effectiveness, what should be the membership of such a team? According to the “Report to the Governor and Legislature” (June 2021), in New York, “[t]eam members are appointed by the Executive Director of the NYS Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and include representatives from agencies and systems that handle domestic violence cases.” The report identifies the following affiliations of those on the team:

• New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence

• Albany Police Dept

• Ulster County Dept of Social Services

• NYS Dept of Health

• New York State Police

• NYS Coalition Against Domestic Violence

• Buffalo City Court Judge

• NYS Dept of Corrections and Community Supervision

• NYS Office of Victim Services

• Urban Resource Institute

• NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance

• NYS DCJS

• Office of Probation and Correctional Alternatives

• Westchester County DA’s Office

• Center for Safety & Change

• NYS Office of Court Administration

• NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services

• NYS Office of Children and Family Services

• Albany County Crime Victim and Sexual Violence Center