2015 New York Laws
SOS - Social Services
Article 6 - CHILDREN
Title 6 - (411 - 428) CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
422-B - Local and regional fatality review teams.

  422-b.  Local  and  regional  fatality  review teams. 1. A fatality
  review team may be established at a local or regional  level,  with  the
  approval  of the office of children and family services, for the purpose
  of investigating the death of  any  child  whose  care  and  custody  or
  custody  and  guardianship has been transferred to an authorized agency,
  other than a vulnerable child as  defined  in  article  eleven  of  this
  chapter,  any child for whom child protective services has an open case,
  any child for whom the local department of social services has  an  open
  preventive  services  case,  and  in  the  case  of a report made to the
  statewide central register of child abuse and maltreatment involving the
  death of a child.   A fatality review  team  may  also  investigate  any
  unexplained or unexpected death of any child under the age of eighteen.
2.  A  local  or  regional  fatality review team may exercise the same
  authority as the office of children and family services with  regard  to
  the  preparation of a fatality report as set forth in paragraphs (b) and
  (c)  of  subdivision  five  of   section   twenty   of   this   chapter.
  Notwithstanding  any  other  provision of law to the contrary and to the
  extent consistent with federal law,  such  local  or  regional  fatality
  review  team  shall  have  access  to  those client-identifiable records
  necessary for the preparation of the report, as authorized in accordance
  with paragraph (d)  of  subdivision  five  of  section  twenty  of  this
  chapter.  A  fatality  report  prepared  by a local or regional fatality
  review team and approved by the office of children and  family  services
  satisfies  the  obligation  to prepare a fatality report as set forth in
  subdivision five of section twenty of this chapter. Such report shall be
  subject to the  same  redisclosure  provisions  applicable  to  fatality
  reports prepared by the office of children and family services.
3.  For  the  purposes  of  this section, a local or regional fatality
  review team must include, but need not be  limited  to,  representatives
  from  the  child  protective  service,  office  of  children  and family
  services, county department of health, or, should the locality not  have
  a  county  department of health, the local health commissioner or his or
  her designee or the local public health director or his or her designee,
  office of the medical examiner, or,  should  the  locality  not  have  a
  medical  examiner,  office  of  the  coroner,  office  of  the  district
  attorney,  office  of  the  county  attorney,  local   and   state   law
  enforcement, emergency medical services and a pediatrician or comparable
  medical  professional,  preferably  with  expertise in the area of child
  abuse and maltreatment or  forensic  pediatrics.  A  local  or  regional
  fatality  review  team  may  also  include  representatives  from  local
  departments  of  social  services,  mental  health  agencies,   domestic
  violence  agencies,  substance abuse programs, hospitals, local schools,
  and family court.
4. A local or regional fatality review team  established  pursuant  to
  this section shall have access to all records, except those protected by
  statutory privilege, within twenty-one days of receipt of a request.
5.  Members  of  a  local  or  regional  fatality review team, persons
  attending a meeting of a local or regional  fatality  review  team,  and
  persons  who  present information to a local or regional fatality review
  team shall have immunity from  civil  and  criminal  liability  for  all
  reasonable  and  good  faith actions taken pursuant to this section, and
  shall not be questioned in any civil or  criminal  proceeding  regarding
  any  opinions  formed  as  a  result of a meeting of a local or regional
  fatality review team. Nothing in this  section  shall  be  construed  to
  prevent   a   person   from   testifying   as  to  information  obtained
  independently of a local or regional fatality review team  or  which  is
  public information.

6.  All  meetings  conducted  and  all  reports  and  records made and
  maintained, and books and  papers  obtained,  by  a  local  or  regional
  fatality  review  team shall be confidential and not open to the general
  public except by court order and  except  for  an  annual  report  or  a
  fatality report, if the fatality review team chooses to complete such an
  annual  report  or  fatality  report. The release of any fatality report
  prepared by a local or regional fatality review team shall  be  governed
  by the provisions of subdivision five of section twenty of this chapter.
  Any  such  annual  report  or  fatality  report  shall  not  contain any
  individually identifiable information  and  shall  be  provided  to  the
  office  of  children  and family services upon completion. The office of
  children and family services shall forward copies of any such report  to
  all  other  local or regional fatality review teams established pursuant
  to this section, to all citizen review panels  established  pursuant  to
  section  three  hundred  seventy-one-b  of  this  chapter,  and  to  the
  governor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker  of  the
  assembly.