A report released by the Kansas State Child Death Review Board shows that the number of suicides among children in Kansas rose by 50% from 2016 to 2017.
The state of Kansas has been working to reduce this number. In June of 2018, the youth suicide prevention task force was formed to survey efforts underway in Kansas to reduce the incidence of youth suicide and provide recommendations on further steps that could be taken.
The task force made a number of recommendations, some of which were adopted by the legislature. This bill created the Kansas Youth Suicide Prevention coordinator to implement recommendations of the task force. Coordinator Gina Meierhumel says that the report underscores the need to collectively address the papin Kansas youth, families, and communities are feeling. The state Child Death Review Board’s 2019 annual report analyzes all child death that occured in 2017, the most recent year for which data is available. Those included in the report are deaths of children from birth to the age of 17.
