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Board creates single-county local fatality team, appoints EMS captain and parent representative
Summary
Board voted unanimously to keep Dare County's child fatality reviews as a single-county local fatality team under new state rules, and appointed an EMS captain and a parent with a prior child fatality to the new panel.
The Dare County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously March 3 to operate as a single-county local fatality team under a statewide reorganization of child-fatality review panels and to appoint two members to the new team.
The county's presentation explained that state law has consolidated the prior separate child-fatality review teams into a single local fatality team; the new structure takes effect in July 2025. "Dare County has a small number of fatalities that we review," the presenter said, and county staff recommended keeping reviews at the single-county level rather than joining a multi-county panel.
The board approved the recommendation and appointed Captain Steven Burrett from EMS and Beth Story (a parent who experienced a child death before age 18) as two required members of the local team. The county also accepted the combined 2024 Child Fatality Prevention/Community Child Protection Team annual report that was on the consent agenda.
Why it matters: the state has consolidated review teams; the local team will review a narrower set of fatalities and will enter findings into a national database. County staff said the new model preserves local review while providing data for state and national analysis.
Implementation steps: staff asked the board to confirm single-county status, approve the 2024 annual report and make the two appointments. Commissioners asked procedural and membership questions; the board acted unanimously on the motion that combined the team decision and the appointments.
Next steps: the new local fatality team will operate under the guidance of the county health and social-services directors and begin the new statutory work in July 2025.
