6. There is established the Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board. For the purposes of complying with the provisions of Article V, Section IV, paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, the board is established within the Department of Children and Families, but notwithstanding the establishment, the board shall be independent of any supervision or control by the department or any board or officer thereof.

The purpose of the board is to review fatalities and near fatalities of children in New Jersey in order to identify their causes, their relationship to governmental support systems, and methods of prevention. The board shall describe trends and patterns of child fatalities and near fatalities in New Jersey; identify risk factors and their prevalence in these populations of children; evaluate the responses of governmental systems to children in families who are considered to be at high risk and to offer recommendations for improvement in those responses; characterize risk groups in terms that are compatible with the development of public policy; improve the sources of data collection by developing protocols for autopsies, death investigations, and complete recording of cause of death on the death certificate; and provide case consultation to individuals or agencies represented by the board.

L.1997, c.175, s.6; amended 2006, c.47, s.59.