Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Health Child Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Halifax County receives 2025 Child Fatality Prevention Team report with recommendations on mental-health access and school interventions
Summary
The board received the 2025 Child Fatality Prevention Team report; the health director, who chairs the team, outlined recommendations including expanded mental-health access, gun-safety campaigns, school-based interventions and maternal health resources.
Halifax County's local health director presented the 2025 Child Fatality Prevention Team report and the board voted to receive the document.
The director said the team, operating under Article 14 of Chapter 7B (as stated in the presentation), conducts multidisciplinary reviews of child deaths to identify gaps, develop recommendations and carry out changes to reduce future fatalities. The report's recommendations included earlier access to mental-health interventions, expanded gun-safety education and marketing, improved school-based prevention and peer-support structures, increased maternal-health provider access and expanded after-school and mentorship opportunities.
The health director described several existing county programs that support prevention efforts, including safe-sleep/SIDS education, car-seat distribution and training, a baby-shower program for families in need, WIC peer counseling and a postpartum home-visiting initiative that the health department is planning with the hospital to provide breastfeeding education and clinical connections.
Commissioners asked about peer-to-peer versus peer-to-adult models in schools, ways the department connects clients to county and regional resources, and whether private and charter schools could participate in planned programs; the director confirmed partnerships and follow-up plans. The board received the report by motion and voice vote and asked staff to continue outreach and implementation planning.
