The House Committee on Families, Children and Seniors today approved state Rep. John Reilly’s plan to give parents access to records about their children’s deaths.

“The death of a child is cause for unimaginable grief,” said Reilly, of Oakland Township. “Nothing can bring back the lost, but parents want answers to the questions that race through their minds. Child fatality review teams, by law, review these deaths and gather information. Grieving parents should be allowed to learn more about their own child’s death by accessing the records.”

Child fatality review teams, formed by one or more county governments, are tasked with examining the causes of childhood deaths. The records are confidential, except for sharing with local law enforcement, other child fatality review teams and the state government. The state is required to publish child death statistics summarizing the information gathered by the county teams.

Reilly’s House Bill 5657 would allow a parent or legal guardian to request and obtain information from a child fatality review team related to the death of one’s own child.

HB 5657 passed the committee unanimously and now proceeds to the entire House of Representatives for consideration.

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