GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

S	1 

SENATE BILL 495*

Short Title:  Statistics Ctr./Research.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Senators Cooper; and Carpenter.
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Referred to:  Children and Human Resources.
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March 16, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT DIRECTING THE STATE CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS TO CONDUCT RESEARCH AS RECOMMENDED BY THE CHILD FATALITY TASK FORCE.
Whereas, pursuant to the State's public policy to prevent child deaths, the 1991 General Assembly established the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force within the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources; and
Whereas, one of the duties of the Task Force is to assess the degree of involvement of governmental agencies with families prior to a child's death; and
Whereas, the Task Force has recommended the establishment of a Child Fatality Review and Prevention System to compile and study statistical information on all childhood deaths in the State;  Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  The State Center for Health Statistics shall do the following:
(1)	Determine the availability of databases maintained by State agencies that indicate governmental agency involvement with the family of a child prior to the child's death;
(2)	Determine the feasibility of linking service delivery databases maintained by State agencies;
(3)	Link State agency databases annually in order to examine agency involvement with children who subsequently died;
(4)	Evaluate periodically the completeness of the computer match of records kept by State agencies;
(5)	Use information provided by the data linkage to examine the relationship between delivery of services by State agencies and child death; and
(6)	Provide statistical support to the Child Review and Prevention System on an ongoing basis.  Statistical support shall include statistical consultation, preparation of lists of child deaths for review by the State Fatality Review Team, and where feasible, support for county multidisciplinary death review teams.
Sec. 2.  The State Center for Health Statistics shall report to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations and the Fiscal Research Division of the Legislative Services Office not later than March 1, 1994, on its progress in providing the data and support required under Section 1 of this act.
Sec. 3.  This act is effective upon ratification.