Child Fatalities in New York City: An Assessment of Child Protective Service Practice

Abstract

This article describes the results of two exploratory studies conducted in New York City that used reports of child fatality investigations conducted by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. It describes the characteristics of children who died as a result of maltreatment and the quality of the child fatality investigations, risk and safety assessments, and protective services responses. Three groups are the focus: children who died while living with families not previously referred to the public child welfare agency; children who died while living with families previously referred to the public child welfare agency; and all children in foster care. The studies found that safety and risk assessments often were not conducted appropriately when children were initially reported to child protective services and when the safety of surviving siblings was at issue; there often was insufficient attention to the elevation of risk as a result of the presence of multiple risk factors in families; and foster parents often did not receive adequate information about health conditions that posed significant risks for children in their care. This article advances practice and policy recommendations for strengthening responses to families who are at high risk and identifies future research directions.