New Citizen Review Panels for North Carolina’s Child Welfare System

I wrote recently about substantial upcoming changes to North Carolina’s child fatality prevention system. As part of those systemic changes in S.L. 2023-124, the General Assembly is establishing new Citizen Review Panels to evaluate the extent to which the state is fulfilling its child protection responsibilities in accordance with federal child welfare laws. This change aligns North Carolina with requirements in the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), the core federal legislation that authorizes funding to states for preventing and responding to child abuse and neglect. This post will discuss the structure and authority of these new citizen panels, as well as how their work intersects with local teams engaged in multidisciplinary child fatality reviews. Background on the Citizen Review Panel Requirement Beginning in 1996, CAPTA required each state to establish at least three “citizen review panels” for its child welfare system in order to receive CAPTA grant funding (see P.L. 104-235). The law required these panels to be composed of volunteer members and to evaluate the extent to which state and local agencies are effectively discharging their child protection responsibilities in accordance with CAPTA (and any other criteria that the panel found important to ensure the protection of children in the state). Since 1997, North Carolina has designated local Community Child Protection Teams (CCPTs) as fulfilling CAPTA’s requirement to maintain citizen review panels. CCPTs have been responsible for reviewing (1) selected active cases in which children are being served by child protective services; and (2) cases in which a child died as a result of suspected abuse or neglect, and (i) a report of abuse or neglect has been made about the child or the child’s family to the county department of social services within the previous 12 months, or (ii) the child or the child’s family was a recipient of child protective services within the previous 12 months. See G.S. 7B-1406. CAPTA requires citizen review panels to “examine the policies, procedures, and practices of State and local agencies…[to] evaluate the extent to which State and local child protection system agencies are effectively discharging their child protection responsibilities in accordance with [the CAPTA] State plan…[and CAPTA’s] child protection standards.” 42 U.S.C. 5106a(c)(4). The CAPTA state plan is developed by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) and submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The evaluation conducted by citizen review panels is also supposed to include a review of the extent to which the state and local CPS system is coordinated with the foster care and adoption programs established under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act. In other words, though CAPTA contemplates that citizen review panels may review specific child welfare cases as part of their work, their core function is evaluating the efficacy and compliance of state and local agencies involved in the child protection system. Changes from S.L. 2023-124 will create citizen review panels in North Carolina that more closely align with these federal requirements. System Restructuring: New Requirements for Teams and Panels As described in more detail in my previous blog post, effective July 1, 2025, the current model of local CCPTs and Child Fatality Prevention teams is ending. Instead, for child fatality reviews, each county will be required to either (1) have its own single local multidisciplinary child death review team; or (2) join with other counties to form a multicounty multidisciplinary child death review team (collectively, “Local Teams”). See G.S. 7B-1406.5(a). Simultaneously, a new statute (G.S. 108A-15.20) that goes into effect on July 1, 2025 requires NCDHHS to ensure the existence of at least three citizen review panels in the state that meet CAPTA’s requirements. In alignment with CAPTA’s vision for an independent review of the child welfare system, the panels must be “operated and managed by a qualified organization that is independent from any State or county department of social services.” As required by CAPTA, these new citizen review panels must consist of volunteer members who broadly represent the community in which the panel is established, including members who have expertise in the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect. G.S. 108A‑15.20(b). The panels may (but are not required to) also include adult former victims of child abuse or neglect. Unlike the Local Teams for multidisciplinary child fatality reviews, there are no particular public offices that must be represented on these citizen review panels. The new state statute does not specify a particular number of members who must serve on the panels or dictate panel meeting frequency. CAPTA, however, requires that these panels meet at least once every three months. 42 U.S.C. 5106a(c)(3). Authority and Duty of NC’s Citizen Review Panels Each of the newly established citizen review panels will be charged with evaluating the extent to which North Carolina is fulfilling its child protection responsibilities in accordance with its CAPTA State Plan (example here) by examining the policies, procedures, and practices of NCDHHS and local child protection agencies, and, when appropriate, reviewing specific cases. G.S. 108A‑15.20(c). In North Carolina, local child protection agencies are local departments of social services (“DSS”), which may be a county department of social services, a consolidated human services agency, or a regional department of social services (depending on the structure a county has chosen). See G.S. 7B-101(8a). Citizen review panels are required to engage in public outreach and seek public comment to assess the impact of current child welfare procedures and practices on children and families. G.S. 108-15.20(f). In the course of evaluating the statewide child welfare system, a citizen review panel may examine any criteria the panel considers important to ensure the protection of children, including, but not limited to:

• the extent to which the State and local child protective services system is coordinated with the Title IV‑E foster care and adoption assistance programs of the Social Security Act;
• a review of child fatalities; and
• a review of near fatalities of children (an act that, as certified by a physician, places the child in serious or critical condition).

If a citizen review panel chooses to review child fatalities, it may use information and reports from Local Teams engaging in multidisciplinary child death reviews. If requested, the State Office of Child Fatality Prevention or Local Teams must provide to the citizen review panel aggregate information about child death reviews or information about individual case reviews. G.S. 108A‑15.20(d); see also G.S. 7B-1413(c). A citizen review panel is not required to review specific child protective services cases but may do so if the panel feels it is necessary to carry out its duties, or if requested by a county DSS director. G.S. 108A‑15.20(d). Access to Information; Confidentiality G.S. 108A‑15.20(e) gives citizen review panels a broad right to access information maintained by any state or local government entity if the panel has a need for the information to carry out its statutorily mandated functions. This broad right of access is consistent with CAPTA, which also requires each state to provide its citizen review panels with access to information on cases that the panel desires to review, if that information is necessary for the panel to carry out its legally mandated functions. 42 U.S.C. 5106a(c)(5). This includes a right to access DSS information that is otherwise “held in strictest confidence” by DSS under G.S. 7B-302(a1). Citizen review panel members are, however, bound by strict confidentiality requirements with respect to information they learn or acquire as a result of their service on a panel. Panel members are prohibited from disclosing any “identifying information about any specific child protection case in which the panel is provided information” and must not disclose any other information unless otherwise authorized by law. G.S. 108A-15.20(e). CAPTA likewise prohibits citizen review panel members from disclosing such information and mandates that states must establish civil sanctions for violations of these confidentiality restrictions. 42 U.S.C. 5106a(c)(4)(B). Under G.S. 108A-80, an unauthorized disclosure of information about a person receiving social services (including child protective services) is a Class 1 misdemeanor. Annual Report and State Response Citizen review panels must collectively prepare and release an annual report containing a summary of the activities of the panels and recommendations to improve the child protection services system at the state and local levels. G.S. 108-15.20(g). Consistent with the confidentiality requirements described above, the panels must not include any identifying information about any specific child protection case in the annual report. No later than six months after the citizen review panels submit their annual report, NCDHHS’s Division of Social Services must submit a written response to state and local child protection system agencies and the citizen review panels that describes whether or how the state will incorporate the recommendations of the citizen review panels, when appropriate. G.S. 108-15.20(g). Tying it All Together Effective July 1, 2025, North Carolina’s statewide system for reviewing child fatalities, active child protective services cases, and the overall functioning of the state’s child protective services system will shift in the following ways.

1. North Carolina will have a new State Office of Child Fatality Prevention within NCDHHS’s Division of Public Health (see my previous post).
2. The current model of local Community Child Protection Teams and Child Fatality Prevention Teams ends. Counties will instead be required to have a single county multidisciplinary child death review team; or join with other counties to form a multicounty multidisciplinary child death review team. These Local Teams will engage in mandatory reviews of certain categories of child deaths (S. 7B‑1406.5(c)). They may also engage in permissive reviews of other child fatalities and, if requested by the county director of social services, active child protective services cases (G.S. 7B‑1406.5(d)-(e)).
3. Effective January 1, 2026, Local Teams, the State Office of Child Fatality Prevention, and medical examiner child fatality staff must begin utilizing the National Fatality Review Case Reporting System (NFR‑CRS) for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and reporting on information learned through child death reviews. S. 7B‑1413.5. My previous post discusses the NFR-CRS and the authority and composition of Local Teams in more detail.
4. NCDHHS will ensure the establishment of at least three citizen review panels in the state, consisting of volunteer members who are charged with evaluating the extent to which North Carolina’s state and local child protection system agencies are effectively discharging their child protection responsibilities in accordance with North Carolina’s CAPTA State Plan and CAPTA’s child protection standards. These panels may, but are not required to, review child fatalities or specific child protective services cases. If doing so, the panels may use information and reports from case reviews conducted by Local Teams.