Task force established to reduce Navajo child deaths
WINDOW ROCK
The Navajo Nation has set up a task force to find out what is causing the deaths of Navajo children.
Gladys Ambrose, a department manager for the tribe’s Department of Family Services, said the Child Fatality Review Team, which will include representatives of the police department and agencies that deal with child safety, is now in the process of being set up.
“We will be reviewing cases involving all child fatalities.” Ambrose said. “Whether it involves child abuse as a result of a homicide, deaths from suicide, vehicle accidents or from commercial products as well as accidental deaths.”
Once the team identifies the leading causes of death, legislation will be proposed, she said, in an effort to reduce that number in future years.
This is similar to the approach that tribal officials took a number of years ago when they began noticing a sharp increase in the number of Navajo children dying as a result of vehicle accidents.
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