Child Death Review Team
Under Part 5A of the Community Services (Complaints, Reviews and Monitoring) Act 1993, the NSW Ombudsman convenes and supports the NSW Child Death Review Team (CDRT).
The CDRT includes experts in healthcare, child development, child protection and research, as well as representatives of key government agencies.
We maintain a register of all child deaths in NSW. The CDRT analyses this register to identify trends and to find ways to reduce the risk of preventable deaths of children in the future.
As well as convening the CDRT, we also review and report on reviewable deaths in NSW.
Read the CDRT’s Strategic Priorities Plan 2022-25.
Role of the CDRT
- maintains a register of child deaths in NSW
- classifies deaths in the register according to cause, demographic criteria and other factors
- analyses the register to identify patterns and trends
- undertakes research to prevent or reduce the likelihood of child deaths
- makes recommendations to government and community organisations about legislation, policies, practices and services
- reports to the NSW Parliament on its work and activities.
Working with other jurisdictions
The CDRT is part of the Australian and New Zealand Child Death Review and Prevention Group (ANZCDR&PG), a collaboration of child death review teams from across Australia and New Zealand. Every year, the ANZCDR&PG comes together to share information and insights to better understand and prevent child deaths.
The other ANZCDR&PG members are:
- Australian Capital Territory – ACT Children & Young People Death Review Committee
- Queensland – Queensland Family & Child Commission
- South Australia – Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee
- Northern Territory – Northern Territory Child Deaths Review and Prevention Committee
- Tasmania – Council of Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity
- Victoria – Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity
- Western Australia – Child Death Review, WA Ombudsman
- New Zealand – Child and Youth Mortality Review Committee
CDRT members
The NSW Ombudsman convenes the CDRT. Staff from the Ombudsman’s office support the CDRT.
The CDRT is required to prepare an annual report. Members must follow the CDRT Charter and Code of Conduct.
Statutory members as April 2022
Paul Miller
Convenor
NSW Ombudsman
Monica Wolf
Community Services Commissioner / Chief Deputy Ombudsman
Zoe Robinson
NSW Advocate for Children and Young People
Agency representatives
Department of Communities and Justice
Anne Reddie
Director, Child Wellbeing and Mental Health Services
Student Support and Specialist Programs
Department of Education
Danny Doherty APM, Detective Superintendent
Commander, Homicide Squad
State Crime Command
NSW Police Force
Eloise Sheldrick
Coordinator and Assistant Coroner
Coronial Information and Support Program
Office of the NSW State Coroner
Matthew Karpin
Director, Criminal Law Specialist
Policy and Reform Branch
Department of Communities and Justice
Matthew O’Meara, Dr
Chief Paediatrician
NSW Ministry of Health
Staff Specialist Paediatric Emergency Medicine
Sydney Children’s Hospital
Sarah Bramwell
Director, Practice Learning
Office of the Senior Practitioner
Department of Communities and Justice
Independent experts
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Medical Faculty University of Notre Dame
Catherine Lourey
Commissioner
Mental Health Commission of NSW
University of Sydney
Isabel Brouwer, Dr
Statewide Clinical Director
Department of Forensic Medicine
Ilan Katz, Professor
Professor Social Policy Research Centre
University of NSW
Kathleen Clapham, Professor
Professor Indigenous Health
Australian Health Services Research Institute
University of Wollongong
Luciano Dalla-Pozza, Dr
Head of Department (Cancer Centre for Children)
Senior Staff Specialist (Paediatric Oncology)
The Children’s Hospital at Westmead
Director and Program Manager, Ngaoara Aboriginal child and adolescent wellbeing service
Professor of Indigenous Health and Education, University of Wollongong
Philip Hazell, Professor
Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Sydney Local Health District
Conjoint Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
The University of Sydney School of Medicine
Susan Adams, Dr
Senior Staff Specialist
General Paediatric Surgeon and Head of Vascular Birthmarks Service
Sydney Children’s Hospital
Susan Arbuckle, Dr
Paediatric/Perinatal pathologist
The Children's Hospital at Westmead