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1999 SESSION
999033212Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 32.1-283.1 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 32.1-283.1. State Child Fatality Review Team established; membership; local teams authorized; access to and maintenance of records; confidentiality; etc.
A. There is hereby created the State Child Fatality Review Team, hereinafter referred to as the "Team," which shall develop and implement procedures to ensure that child deaths occurring in Virginia are analyzed in a systematic way. The Team shall review (i) violent and unnatural child deaths, (ii) sudden child deaths occurring within the first eighteen months of life, and (iii) those fatalities for which the cause or manner of death was not determined with reasonable medical certainty. No child death review shall be initiated by the Team until conclusion of any law-enforcement investigation or criminal prosecution. The Team shall (i) develop and revise as necessary operating procedures for the review of child, deaths, including identification of cases to be reviewed and procedures for coordination among the agencies and professionals involved, (ii) improve the identification, data collection, and record keeping of the causes of child death, (iii) recommend components for prevention and education programs, (iv) recommend training to improve the investigation of child deaths, and (v) provide technical assistance, upon request, to any local child fatality teams that may be established. The operating procedures for the review of child deaths shall be exempt from the Administrative Process Act (§ 9-6.14:1 et seq.) pursuant to subdivision 17 of subsection B of § 9-6.14:4.1.
B. The sixteen-member State Child Fatality Review Team shall be chaired by the Chief Medical Examiner and shall be composed of the following persons or their designees: the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services; the Director of Child Protective Services within the Department of Social Services; the Superintendent of Public Instruction; the State Registrar of Vital Records; and the Director of the Department of Criminal Justice Services. In addition, one representative from each of the following entities shall be appointed by the Governor to serve for a term of three years: local law-enforcement agencies, local fire departments, local departments of social services, the Medical Society of Virginia, the Virginia College of Emergency Physicians, the Virginia Pediatric Society, Virginia Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Alliance, local emergency medical services personnel, Commonwealth's attorneys, and community services boards.
C. Local child facility review teams may be established to perform local child
death reviews in accordance with the criteria set forth in subsection A of this
section for the State Team. Local teams shall be composed of the
following nine persons or their designees: the local medical examiner, the
local social services official or employee in charge of child
protective services, the director of the relevant local or district health
department, the person in charge of law-enforcement for the jurisdiction,
the executive of the local department of social services, the local fire
marshal, the attorney for the Commonwealth in the locality, the chief judge of
the juvenile and domestic relations court, and the executive director of the
local community services board or other local mental health agency, and such
additional persons as may be appointed to serve by the chairperson of the local
team. The chairman shall be elected from among the designated membership. The
chairman may appoint no more than ten additional members to represent public
human services agencies, local public education agencies, and public
safety agencies, and shall appoint representatives of local pediatricians,
emergency medical services agencies and personnel, psychiatrists, and
psychologists.
D. Upon the request of the Chief Medical Examiner in his capacity as chair of the State Child Fatality Review Team or the chairperson of the relevant local child fatality review team, made after the conclusion of any law-enforcement investigation or prosecution, information and records regarding a child whose death is being reviewed by the State Team or the relevant local team may be inspected and copied by the Chief Medical Examiner or his designee or the chairperson of the local team or his designee, including, but not limited to, any report of the circumstances of the event maintained by any state or local law-enforcement agency or medical examiner, and information or records maintained on such child by any school, social services agency or court. Information, records or reports maintained by any Commonwealth's Attorney shall be made available for inspection and copying by the Chief Medical Examiner or the chairperson of the relevant local team pursuant to procedures which shall be developed by the Chief Medical Examiner and the Commonwealth's Attorneys' Services Council established by § 2.1-64.28:1. In addition, the Chief Medical Examiner or the chairperson of the relevant local team may inspect and copy from any Virginia health care provider, on behalf of the State Team or the relevant local team, (i) without obtaining consent, the health and mental health records of the child and those perinatal medical records of the child's mother that related to such child, and (ii) upon obtaining consent from each adult regarding his personal records, or from a parent regarding the records of a minor child, the health and mental health records of the child's family. All such information and records shall be confidential and shall be excluded from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (§ 2.1-340 et seq.) pursuant to subdivision 59 of subsection B of § 2.1-342.
Upon the conclusion of the child death review, all information and records concerning the child and the child's family shall be shredded or otherwise destroyed by the Chief Medical Examiner or the chairperson of the relevant local team in order to ensure confidentiality. Such information or records shall not be subject to subpoena or discovery or be admissible in any criminal or civil proceeding. If available from other sources, however, such information and records shall not be immune from subpoena, discovery or introduction into evidence when obtained through such other sources solely because the information and records were presented to the State Team or the relevant local team during a child death review. Further, the findings of the State Team or any local team may be disclosed or published in statistical or other form which shall not identify individuals. The portions of meetings in which individual child death cases are discussed by the State Team or any local team shall be closed pursuant to subdivision 23 of subsection A of § 2.1-344. In addition to the requirements of § 2.1-344.1, all team members, persons attending closed team meetings, and persons presenting information and records on specific child deaths to the State Team or any local team during closed meetings shall execute a sworn statement to honor the confidentiality of the information, records, discussions, and opinions disclosed during any closed meeting to review a specific child death. Violations of this subsection shall be punishable as a Class 3 misdemeanor.
DE. Upon notification of a child death, any state or local government agency
maintaining records on such child or such child's family which are periodically purged shall retain
such records for the longer of twelve months or until such time as the State
Child Fatality Review Team has and the relevant local team, if any, have
completed itstheir child death review of the specific case.
EF. The State Team shall compile annual data which shall be made available to
the Governor and the General Assembly as requested. Local teams may compile
annual data to be included, if relevant, in the State Team’s report. These
statistical data compilations shall not contain any personally identifying information and
shall be public records.