Child Death Overview Panel

The Children Act 2004 places the responsibility on the Local Safeguarding Children Board to investigate all child deaths in their area. In many areas of the country this work is being carried out jointly.

The Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire Safeguarding Children Board Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) has been set up to carry out a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary review of child deaths in the area. It aims to better understand how and why children in Telford & Wrekin and Shropshire die.

The most important reason for reviewing child deaths is to improve the health and safety of children and to prevent other children from dying. The Child Death Overview Panel will maintain a focus on prevention through all its work.

Individual deaths and overall patterns of childhood deaths will be evaluated by the panel to determine

• if the deaths were preventable
• to identify modifiable risk factors (taking account of factors in the child, the parenting capacity, wider family, environmental and societal factors, and services provided to or needed by the child or family)
• to determine the best strategy(ies) for prevention

It will prepare an annual report for the Telford & Wrekin or Shropshire Safeguarding Children Board which is responsible for publishing relevant, anonymised information to help improve policy, professional practice and inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.