Idaho Panel to Review Child Deaths

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho is no longer the only state in America without a panel that reviews circumstances of child deaths. Its new 13-member Idaho Child Fatality Review Team began meeting this year, to review tragic instances where minors died. Its next meeting is in July, where it will take up cases of children who died in automobile accidents. Idaho had such a team in the late 1990s, but it was disbanded. Subsequent efforts to renew the panel failed in the Legislature, in part on lawmakers' concerns it would be too intrusive or lead to charges against parents who had lost their loved ones. Now, the resurrected panel's members say they aim to analyze the circumstances under which Idaho children have died, to help determine how they might be avoided in the future.