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Budget Amendment - Child Fatality Prevention Team
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INFORMATION CONTACT:
Dennis Joyner, Human Services Agency, Public Health Director, 704-296-4801
ACTION REQUESTED:
1) Recognize, receive, and appropriate $2,400 in additional state funding from the NC Division of Public Health for the Union County Child Fatality Prevention Team (Agreement Addendum 701) and 2) approve Budget Amendment 17.
PRIOR BOARD ACTIONS:
None.
BACKGROUND:
North Carolina Session Law (NCSL) 2023-134 enacted changes to strengthen the state’s child fatality prevention system which included the establishment of a State Office of Child Fatality Prevention within the Division of Public Health (DPH), Department of Health and Human Services (the Department), made changes to the Child Fatality Prevention System, and made it mandatory to report child fatalities into the National Fatality Review Case Reporting System (NFR-CRS).
The NFR-CRS is a web-based system hosted by the National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention within the Center for National Prevention Initiatives of the Michigan Public Health Institute (MPHI) and is used by many states to provide child death review teams with a data system for capturing, analyzing, and reporting of information shared at a child death or serious injury review.
Per NCSL 2023-134: “Not later than July 1, 2025, the Department shall ensure through its State Office of Child Fatality Prevention that all Local Teams [including Local Health Departments/Districts] have been provided guidelines and training addressing their participation in the NFR-CRS, and Local Teams shall begin utilizing the System for case reporting as specified in G.S. 7B-1413.5.” The Union County Human Services Agency coordinates our single county, multidisciplinary child death review team pursuant to Article 14 of Chapter 7B of the General Statutes.
This Agreement Addendum provides funding for the Local Health Department to prepare and begin using the NFR-CRS. Funds were appropriated by the North Carolina General Assembly to support implementation of the changes authorized by NCSL 2023-134 to restructure child death reviews by Local Teams and to offset the costs associated with Local Team participation in NFR-CRS.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The County will receive $2,400 in FY2025 funding from the NC Division of Public Health. No County match is required.