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State Child Fatality Task Force releases annual report

88.5 WFDD - Public Radio For The Piedmont | By Neal Charnoff
Published May 12, 2026 at 8:19 PM EDT
Several children at play.
Craig Mitchelldyer
/
AP

The North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force has completed its 2026 annual report and submitted its latest recommendations to state leaders.

Officials from the task force say progress in achieving its goals has slowed in the last few years. As a result, many of its current recommendations are holdovers from previous reports.

Among them, officials urge strengthening the passenger safety law requiring car and booster seats, as motor vehicle injuries are among the leading causes of death for North Carolina children.

The report notes high rates of youth suicide and recommends increased support within the school systems. It also calls for further regulation of nicotine vapes, cannabis products and social media algorithms.

Officials also urge increased funding to prevent infant deaths from unsafe sleep environments.

The task force will hold a webinar to go over its latest data and recommendations on May 26.

Neal Charnoff
Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.
See stories by Neal Charnoff