Child Fatality Prevention
The Child Fatality Prevention website was created to raise public awareness about child fatalities throughout the state and assist communities with identifying where additional resources or efforts are needed to assist struggling families.
This is a data website, but it is important to remember that each statistic represents a child who was taken much too soon. It is our hope that their stories will be a call to action for communities to join DCF to work together to meet the needs of their neighbors and protect vulnerable children to prevent future deaths. Additionally, DCF and our community partners will use this data to improve child welfare practice to better protect children and assist at-risk families. Read More
Additionally, DCF and our community partners will use this data to improve child welfare practice to better protect children and assist at-risk families.
This website includes information regarding all child fatalities called into the Florida Abuse Hotline alleged to be a result of abuse or neglect. The definitions for abuse, abandonment and neglect can be found in Ch. 39, Florida Statutes.
The data can be sorted and viewed by county, child's age, causal factor and prior involvement. At this time, the website features current year data and DCF is working diligently to include five years of historical data to provide the capability for greater trend analysis.
Cases listed as verified indicate that enough evidence exists to determine that the child’s death was caused by abuse, abandonment or neglect. Prior involvement indicates that the deceased child or the family of the deceased child had contact with Florida's child welfare system—through a child protective investigation conducted by DCF or one of six sheriff’s offices and/or foster care or family support services provided by one of Florida's 19 Community-Based Care lead agencies.
The site also includes information about DCF’s prevention campaigns relating to the leading causes of child fatality in Florida—unsafe sleep, drowning and inflicted trauma. These campaigns provide useful information for parents and caregivers and avenues for communities to get involved.
This page will be updated weekly with information available from the Florida Abuse Hotline and DCF field staff. Supporting documents are posted after the case is closed following a review by one of six regional child fatality prevention specialists. All documents are redacted in accordance with Ch.39 and Ch. 119, Florida Statutes.
Child Fatalities Reported To Hotline By Year
**Prior involvement indicates that the deceased child or the family of the deceased child had contact with Florida's child welfare system, regardless of finding, either through a child protective investigation conducted by DCF or one of six sheriff’s offices and/or foster care or family support services provided by one of Florida's 19 Community-Based Care lead agencies. As of March 2014.
Note: The Florida Abuse Hotline accepts calls that meet the statutory requirements for investigation by DCF. When calls do not meet the requirements in law they are documented but not forwarded for further assessment or investigation. For a list of calls that did not meet the criteria for additional assessment or investigation click here. This data will be updated quarterly.
Information contained on these pages is subject to change as facts become available during the course of an investigation.