Coroners Service

Child Death Review Unit

Overview

The Child Death Review Unit (CDRU) of the BC Coroners Service reviews the deaths of all children age 18 and under in B.C. The intent of these reviews is to better understand how and why children die, and to use those findings to prevent other deaths and improve the health, safety and well-being of all children in British Columbia.

Through the review of all child deaths, the CDRU gathers data that can show trends in child deaths.  In some cases, deaths will be further reviewed by way of a cluster review or though the multi-disciplinary review process.  Information arising from these various reviews is analysed and shared with agencies and organizations to influence and develop programs to deter or prevent child deaths. By understanding the risks, we can be guided in determining the most significant opportunities for prevention. 

Staffed with experts in the area of research and review, the unit also examines provincial and national trends with regard to child deaths.

Child Death Review Reports and Information

• 2007 Annual Report - Child Death Review Unit - June 2008
  The report looks at common risk factors among 395 deaths involving children and youth ages one day to 18-years-old that occurred between 1999 and 2007, and issues recommendations that aim to prevent future child deaths. The review determined 126 deaths were preventable and of those deaths, the cause most often cited as responsible for the loss of life were 58 transport related incidents.
  Please send us your feedback on the CDRU 2007 Annual Report.
  
  
• Stats and Studies Show Too Many Kids Victims of Fatal Pedestrian Accidents – Public Safety Bulletin May 2008
• Infant Deaths Linked to Unsafe Sleep Practices – Public Safety Bulletin
  March 2008
• 2006 Annual Report - Child Death Review Unit – December 2007
  While motor vehicle incidents remain the main reason why B.C. children die accidentally, for the first time, suicide is now the second leading cause of preventable death, according to annual report data released by the Child Death Review Unit (CDRU) of the BC Coroners Service.
• Report on Drowning - July 2007
• Child Death Review General Information – Chinese
• Child Death Review General Information - English
• Child Death Review General Information – Punjabi
• The "955 Transition Files" of the former Children's Commission – November 2006 Summary of the review completed by the BC Coroners Service Child Death Review Unit of “955 child death cases” that were reported to exist as either files pending an investigation or as electronic files within the Children's Commission at the time that agency was disbanded in September 2002.
• Child Death Investigation Process Fact Sheet – October 2006
• Child Death Review Unit Backgrounder – June 2006
  A summary of the report on the child deaths reviewed by the CDRU between January 2003 and January 2006, findings from the analysis, recommendations and definitions.
• 2005 Annual Report - Child Death Review Unit  
  First CDRU Annual Report chronicling its work from 2003 - 2005.  It is the result of ongoing aggregate review of both descriptive and statistical information relating to children’s deaths, providing important insight into some of the causative and contributory factors that lead to deaths of infants and young people.
• Child and Youth Deaths in B.C. – Statistics, 1997 to 2004
• Overview of Child Death Review – December 2004  
  Covers the responsibilities the BC Coroners Services assumed in January 2003 relating to child death review; the child death review process in B.C. and how the BC Coroners Service helps prevent deaths; and the process other provinces are using.
• Child Death Review Unit Special Report on Infant Deaths 2003 - 2004 – July 2005
  A report focusing on the deaths of children under the age of one year from January 1, 2003, thru to June 30, 2004.