Yesterday, the House of Representatives took a step forward to learn from these tragedies and prevent child fatalities in the future. The House, in a 93-5 vote, approved HB 2165. When there is a fatality in a licensed child care facility, the bill will require a review of the incident by a panel of outside experts. Currently, there is a fatality review process in place for deaths in foster care, but not childcare or early learning centers.
Representative Kagi, sponsor of HB 2165, spoke of the importance of the bill. “Choosing a place to care for a child is one of the hardest decisions a parent makes. We need to do everything we can to protect children and learn, when a tragedy happens, how they can be prevented in the future. The rigorous review process in this bill will ensure that all incidents receive a careful, critical and thorough examination. From this process will come improved safety standards that protect the health and safety of our children and give parents peace of mind.”
The Childcare Fatality Review Committee will ask critical questions like, “Is there something we could have done to prevent this incident? And, does this incident point to a systemic failure so that we must change our policies or procedures in the future?”
The committee will then make recommendations to the Department of Early Learning and the Legislature to strengthen health and safety standards and practices in childcare – better protecting our vulnerable children. The fatality review report will be posted on a public website.
HB 2165 now heads to the Senate for consideration.