                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

STATE CHILD FATALITY REVIEW TEAM; MEMBERSHIP; ACCESS TO AND MAINTENANCE OF
RECORDS; CONFIDENTIALITY; ETC (§ 32.1-283.1)

A. There is hereby created the State Child Fatality Review Team, referred to in
this section as &#8220;the Team,&#8221; 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 18 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
(&#xA7; 2.2-4000 et seq.) pursuant to subdivision B 17 of &#xA7; 2.2-4002.

B. The 16-member Team shall be chaired by the Chief Medical Examiner and shall
be composed of the following persons or their designees: the Commissioner of
Behavioral Health and Developmental 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, local
emergency medical services personnel, attorneys for the Commonwealth, and
community services boards.

C. Upon the request of the Chief Medical Examiner in his capacity as chair of
the 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 Team may be inspected and copied by the Chief Medical Examiner
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 attorney for the Commonwealth shall be made available for inspection and
copying by the Chief Medical Examiner pursuant to procedures which shall be
developed by the Chief Medical Examiner and the Commonwealth&#8217;s
Attorneys&#8217; Services Council established by &#xA7; 2.2-2617. Any
presentence report prepared pursuant to &#xA7; 19.2-299 for any person convicted
of a crime that led to the death of the child shall be made available for
inspection and copying by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner pursuant to
procedures which shall be developed by the Chief Medical Examiner. In addition,
the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner may inspect and copy from any Virginia
health care provider, on behalf of the Team, (i) without obtaining consent, the
health and mental health records of the child and those perinatal medical
records of the child&#8217;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&#8217;s family. All such information and records shall be
confidential and shall be excluded from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act
(&#xA7; 2.2-3700 et seq.) pursuant to subdivision 7 of &#xA7; 2.2-3705.5. Upon
the conclusion of the child death review, all information and records concerning
the child and the child&#8217;s family shall be shredded or otherwise destroyed
by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner 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 Team
during a child death review. Further, the findings of the 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 Team shall be closed pursuant to subdivision A 21 of &#xA7; 2.2-3711. In
addition to the requirements of &#xA7; 2.2-3712, all team members, persons
attending closed team meetings, and persons presenting information and records
on specific child deaths to the 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 are punishable as a Class 3
misdemeanor.

D. Upon notification of a child death, any state or local government agency
maintaining records on such child or such child&#8217;s family which are
periodically purged shall retain such records for the longer of 12 months or
until such time as the State Child Fatality Review Team has completed its child
death review of the specific case.

E. The Team shall compile annual data which shall be made available to the
Governor and the General Assembly as requested. These statistical data
compilations shall not contain any personally identifying information and shall
be public records.

HISTORY: 1994, c. 643; 1995, c. 499; 1999, cc. 703, 726; 2004, c. 690; 2007, c.
411; 2009, cc. 813, 840; 2014, c. 583; 2017, c. 778.