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Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT)
Overview
Created by Governor Ted Kulongoski in 2004 and put into statute by the Oregon legislature in 2007, the public reports created by the Critical Incident Review Team (CIRT) are an important and unique tool to help protect Oregon's children in state care.
Purpose The primary purpose of the CIRT process is to rapidly draw lessons for the improvement of agency actions when there is an incident or serious injury or death caused by abuse or neglect involving a child who has had contact with the Oregon Department of Human Services.
In each particular case, the CIRT process identifies what improvements can be made to DHS policies or practices and to make the report public information.
CIRT reports are designed to review agency actions, not the actions of the person who injured the child. Additionally, under state law, DHS protects the identity of children and other clients, so names are not included in the reports, even if those names have been released through other means.
Launching a CIRT If a child in state care dies as a result of abuse or neglect, the CIRT law requires that a team be convened by the DHS director within 24 hours to draw lessons from the case in order to improve child welfare practices and policies for the safety of other children. In addition, CIRTS can also be convened if a child is seriously injured.
The reports are published on the DHS website. Based on these reports, improvements and audit points are recommended.
Improvements to the CIRT process
Since the CIRT process was created in 2004, there have been improvements and changes to how information is gathered and reported in order to be more timely, more transparent, and more useful in preventing child abuse, and DHS will continue making improvements into the future.
CIRT reports status
CIRT reports
All reports are posted in PDF format
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2007
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Background
