Reviewable deaths

Under Part 6 of the Community Services (Complaints, Reviews and Monitoring) Act 1993, we conduct in-depth reviews of:

• deaths of children in circumstances of abuse or neglect
• deaths of children in care or detention.

These are known as ‘reviewable deaths’.

As well as examining reviewable child deaths, the NSW Ombudsman convenes and supports the NSW Child Death Review Team.

Preventing child deaths

We review deaths to identify improvements that could help to prevent or reduce the deaths of children at risk of harm or in care in future.

To do this, we:

• maintain a register of reviewable deaths
• research and develop strategies to reduce or remove risk factors associated with reviewable deaths that are preventable
• make recommendations to NSW government agencies and community service providers
• report to the NSW Parliament on our work and activities.

Our reviews focus on systemic issues and agency responses to identified risks.