Audit: DCS has not been fully reporting information on deaths, near deaths of children

A new state comptroller’s audit has found that the Department of Children’s Services has not been fully reporting — and in some cases still hadn’t reported — information about the deaths and near deaths of children in 2023 and 2024 who had been involved with DCS.

The delayed reporting has reduced transparency and accountability of the department’s work in investigating cases of deaths and near deaths.

“As a result, the public may lack critical information needed to evaluate the effectiveness of Tennessee’s child protection system in a timely manner,” the audit said.

The finding in the December 2025 performance audit was one of several that revealed DCS continues to have internal operational problems, some of which the department said it is in the process of correcting. For example, one finding said the department still has not fully met its oversight responsibilities for hard-to-place children and youth that are in transitional housing. The department has come under fire for the long periods of time children are left in temporary housing — even sleeping on the floor in state office buildings. Its commissioner said it plans to open better facilities to house such children in 2026 and 2027.

Reporting deaths of children in state custody

Margie Quin is the commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.

When children die while in DCS custody, or have a “near fatality,” DCS is required by law to report it publicly. They also must report a death or near fatality for children who either are the subject of an investigation by child protective services or have been subject to an investigation within 45 days of the death or near fatality. A “near fatality” means the child had a serious or critical medical condition resulting from child abuse or child sexual abuse as reported by a physician who examined the child.

However, the audit found, the department did not disclose any of the near fatalities of children it had investigated since October 2023.

Additionally, although the department posted basic information such as age and gender on its website within five days of when a child died, it had not followed up with required reporting of its investigation results of the death for a large number of cases in 2023 and 2024.  (The audit period was from Sept. 1, 2022 through Sept. 30, 2025.)

In 2023, there were 192 child fatality cases and in 2024, 168 fatality cases, according to the audit. The auditors reviewed a nonstatistical sampling of 70 pending child death cases that were opened in 2023 and 2024 for which the department had not yet posted the final details. It found that the delays in those cases were caused by supervisors failing to review investigator summaries, investigators who had not finished their investigative tasks or had not prepared their summaries, and delays in getting autopsy reports back from a medical examiner’s office, especially in West Tennessee.

Reporting near fatalities of children in DCS

The audit found that the department had not reported any near fatalities of children since October 2023 because it lacked a physician reviewer to make required near-fatality determinations, the audit said. At the time of the review, all 58 preliminary near-fatality cases from October 2023 through May 2025 remained pending physician review.

Management explained to auditors that the person who had previously conducted the reviews left in December 2023 and no new physician reviewer had been hired.  However, a month before the audit’s period ended, DCS reported that it had finally filled the position and would soon be reviewing the backlog of cases.

The audit noted that DCS is also obligated to report deaths and near fatalities within 10 business days to members of the state senate and house of representatives representing the child. This audit, however, did not focus on the reports to lawmakers.

The audit of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services by the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office covered a 36-month period between Sept. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2025.

The audit called for the Department of Children’s Services commissioner, Margie Quin, to strengthen internal controls to ensure timely public reporting of child deaths, especially by monitoring investigative tasks and fatality closing summaries to ensure they are completed and approved without delay.

DCS also said it was creating a Child Death team to investigate only cases of child death and near-death to help streamline investigative tasks.

Quin appeared before the a House Committee today as part of a routine Sunset Review, answering questions about the audit.

Other major findings of the audit included:

• A need to to increase oversight of the Special Investigations Unit because of insufficient and untimely investigations of child abuse.
• A need for more oversight of Child Protective Services staff so as to meet key timelines for investigating child abuse and neglect.
• A need for more oversight for children in transitional housing.
• A need to fix the delays in obtaining medical and dental screenings of children in its custody.
• A need for more oversight over residential facilities and juvenile detention centers that house custodial youth to ensure safety, compliance and accountability.