Report a Child Death

The death of a child is always tragic. Talking and thinking about a child’s death is a sensitive and painful subject, which is particularly upsetting for parents, families and carers.

Any agency or professional should make a notification of a child death if:

a child death has occurred in Cumbria, which covers both local authorities (Cumberland and Westmorland & Furness)
a death of a child, normally resident in Cumbria, occurred elsewhere

Notify us of a child's death though our online form

To ensure the child death reporting forms are sent to the appropriate person/agency, please email the Cumbria Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) cdop@cumbria.gov.uk informing them of the person and their email address.

After you've completed the online form, it will be received by the CDOP Co-ordinator.

Reviewing of child deaths

Reviewing child deaths is a statutory requirement for local safeguarding partnerships in England. The purpose of the processes is to try to understand how a child has died and then put in place interventions to protect other children and prevent future deaths, wherever possible.

SUDC UK have recently published their 'SUDC Support in Schools' toolkit, which is a guide to assist families and schools after a child has died suddenly.

SUDC UK Support in Schools Toolkit

It is intended that the Child Death Review process will:

document and try to understand the cause of death, so that parents/carers and the wider family can come to terms with the death of their child
enable parents/carers and professionals to take steps to prevent the deaths of any other children where possible
identify patterns of deaths in a community, so that preventable or avoidable hazards that may contribute to deaths can be recognised and reduced
contribute to the improved collection of forensic evidence in the very small proportion of deaths where there might be concerns about the cause of death being non-accidental
work together to co-ordinate the review of child deaths and share learning to help safeguard children across Cumbria

Learn more about the review process and the Cumberland Joint Agency response.

Case Review

The purpose of a Case Review is to receive notifications from agencies or professional or Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) of a serious incident. The Case Review group collects and collates information on each child and seeks relevant information from professionals and family members. Where a suspicion arises that neglect or abuse may have been a factor in the child’s death, referring a case back to the CSCP Independent Scrutineer for consideration of whether a child Safeguarding Practice Review (SPR) is required.

Professionals - If you would like to refer a case to the Case Review Group please complete a Referral for a Safeguarding Practice Review - CSCP form

Queries regarding a child death

Professionals who have queries regarding a child death are encouraged to contact:

Sharon Mitchell, Child Death and Case Review Co-ordinator

Telephone: 07795047888
Email: cdop@cumbria.gov.uk or cscp@cumbria.gov.uk

Useful Documents

The following documents are from the former Cumbria Safeguarding Children Partnership