In 2025, Connecticut saw a 15% decrease in preventable deaths of children compared to the state’s previous five-year average, according to the latest child fatality report released by the state’s Office of the Child Advocate (OCA). The report states that the leading cause of preventable child death remains unsafe sleeping environments for infants.
“Although there is variance year to year in total child deaths, Connecticut persistently continues to see infants die from unsafe and modifiable sleep-related causes, with numbers fluctuating from 15 to 23 infant deaths each year (a future kindergarten class of children),” reads the report. “Over the last decade, more than a quarter (25.8%) of the children that have died in Connecticut from non-natural or unexpected causes had a sleep environment that was not consistent with safe sleep recommendations published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.”
The OCA releases child fatality reports annually, in tandem with members of the state’s Child Fatality Review Panel (CFRP), to “identify and report on patterns of risk to children and inform fatality prevention strategies.” The CFRP is co-chaired by OCA Christina Ghio, and Dr. Kirsten Bechtel, an emergency-room pediatrician at Yale New Haven Hospital, and is staffed by the OCA with help from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
“The 2025 Child Fatality Report highlights both encouraging progress and deeply concerning trends,” said Ghio. “While preventable child deaths have decreased compared to prior years, too many children continue to be lost to unsafe sleep environments, accidental injuries, violence, and suicide. Each of these lives represents not just a statistic, but a child whose future was cut short, a family forever changed, and a community impacted.”
Per the report, 67 Connecticut children died of preventable causes in 2025; 29 of them died by accident, 10 were victims of homicide, 13 were victims of suicide, and 15 died of undetermined causes. In total, 15 of these deaths were of infants in sleep environments with “documented modifiable risk factors.” Three of them were ruled accidents because their cause of death could be “definitively established,” and the other 12 were deemed undetermined because there was “no sufficient degree of medical certainty to determine the cause of death.”
“Unlike accidental deaths where unsafe sleep conditions are definitively established, autopsy and scene investigation may identify unsafe sleep factors such as those listed above, but positional asphyxia or lay-over is not conclusively determined,” reads the report. “In 2025, 100% of the infants that died in their sleep environments had documented modifiable risk factors.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that babies should sleep on their backs, on firm surfaces that can’t incline, without any toys, pillows, blankets, or crib bumpers, all of which can lead to suffocation. Furthermore, the AAP recommends that parents move babies who fall asleep in car seats, strollers, swings, or carriers as soon as possible; that babies’ cribs be placed in a parent’s bedroom for at least the first six months; and that babies should never sleep on couches, armchairs, or nursing pillows. Of the 12 undetermined infant deaths that occurred while sleeping, 75% died while co-sleeping with a parent, and 83% of them died while sleeping on an adult-sized mattress.
2025’s accidental death rate for children increased by 28% from 2024; 13 children died in vehicle accidents, four children died of smoke inhalation in house fires, three infants died of suffocation while sleeping, three children died of accidental drowning, two died of falls, and another child died of choking. The cause of the other two accidental deaths belonged to the “other” category.
Six of the 10 children who died by homicide were killed by their caregivers, at an average age of 9.5 years; four of them died by gun violence, three by child abuse, one by drowning, one by stabbing, and another by fentanyl poisoning. Of the 13 children who died by suicide, 62% were younger than 15, a trend the report called a “concerning development.”
“In the four years prior to, 34% of children that died by suicide were under age 15,” reads the report. “This trend has continued in the early months of 2026 and reinforces the need for constant awareness, early education, and intervention of mental health supports, and ensuring our youth have connections to positive supports and adults.”
Eight children hanged themselves, another four shot themselves and one poisoned themself. Suicide was the only category in which girls accounted for the majority of the deaths, at 54%. Boys accounted for a majority of the deaths in every other category: 67% of undetermined deaths, 69% of accidental deaths, and 80% of homicide deaths.
“We must continue to learn from these losses and apply what we know to strengthen prevention, elevate awareness, and ensure that children and families receive the supports they need,” said Ghio. “Together, we can honor the children we have lost by working tirelessly to prevent future tragedies and building a safer, healthier future for all of Connecticut’s children.”
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