NEW YORK, NY January 19, 2005 —A bill under consideration by the City Council would form a multi-agency investigation panel to look at all deaths of children under 18-years old. WNYC's Richard Hake reports.

Currently, specific agencies handle the investigations of child deaths. This could be the police department, Medical examiner's office or the Administration for Children's Services. The Chair of the Council Committee on Health, Christine Quinn, wants the process to be more collarborative.

QUINN: That review that ACS does, you do appropriately for children in your care. So don't other children and their families deserve that same level of investigation and review when they die and their families have suffered such a tragedy.

The Administration for Children's Services says a new panel would only duplicate its own thorough investigative efforts. In 2003 some 13-hundred children under 18 died in the city from a variety of causes ranging from accidental, criminal and natural causes. For WNYC, I'm Richard Hake.