Child Fatality Reporting

This fatality data includes reports of child deaths that:

• Are due to homicide as determined by the Medical Examiner, regardless of whether there was child protective history with the family;
• Have Office of Child and Family Service (OCFS) findings of abuse and/or neglect associated with the death, regardless of whether there was child protective history with the family or whether there are law enforcement findings; or
• Had a child protective history before or during the child’s life, even when the cause of death was natural, accidental, suicide, or undetermined.

The categories of fatalities are: 

• Accidental (as identified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and includes causes such as motor vehicle accidents, drowning, fire, etc.)
• Homicide (as identified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner)
• Natural (as identified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and includes fatalities caused by medical conditions)
• Other (includes those fatalities identified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner as due to undetermined causes or suicide)
• Unsafe sleep (as identified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner)
• Sudden Unexplained Infant Death (SUID) (as identified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner)

In order to be included in this list, any fatality in one of these six categories must meet the criteria outlined above. There may be other deaths in each of these categories not accounted for here because it did not meet one of the criteria. Some information has been redacted, at the direction of the Office of the Maine Attorney General, because the manner of death is still listed as pending by the Medical Examiner’s office and/or because there is a pending criminal proceeding.

This is not a comprehensive list of all child deaths in Maine. Some child deaths, which may be known to the public and the Department, are not included in this list due to ongoing criminal investigations and/or proceedings. Those that fall under the criteria noted above will be added at an appropriate time upon advice of the Office of the Maine Attorney General. The list also does not include child fatalities where there is no Departmental or law enforcement involvement.