- Home
- / Procedures
- / Child protection
- / Death of a child
Death of a child
Throughout these processes the central focus should be on the welfare of any remaining children, the parents and family and staff who worked with the child and family. The responsible line manager should meet with each member of staff to advise them of the death, reflect on the impact of the death on the worker, and consider how best the family and the worker can be supported.
Where a death was expected
All agencies working with the child may choose to organise a case review meeting to establish whether lessons can be learned to inform work with other young people in similar situations. Such a review meeting should be held using the structure of any other professionals meeting. Minutes from the meeting can be provided to the local Child Death Overview Panel to evidence good local practice as well as inviting input from others into the review process.
If the child was in care, please also follow the Death of a Child in Care procedure.
Unexpected deaths
The following pathway sets out the actions for the Local Authority whenever information is received a child has died unexpectedly, and
- abuse or neglect is suspected, or
- children's social care are working with a child or have worked with the child in the last six months
The following pages then set out the process in more detail.
You may also like
-
Initial stages
When a child dies unexpectedly, Children's Services may not necessarily be the agency to be the first know. However, once notified, regardless of the status of whether the child is in care or not, there are processes that need to be followed. The process on this page should be completed by the end of the same working day as Children's Services being notified.
Read more
-
Death of a child in care
In addition to the process to be followed for all unexpected deaths, there are additional matters that need to be considered if the child was looked after.
Read more
-
Post mortem
After the initial stages of ensuring immediate safety of other children and that all who need to know are notified, there is a need for work to take place to form a view about cause of death and whether abuse or neglect were a factor.
Read more