The Westchester district attorney and the county executive have created a new weapon in their fight to keep children in the county safe.

The new child fatality review team will review circumstances and events leading up to the death of a child under the age of 18. The team will then come up with meaningful ways to prevent future tragedies. In addition, the team will have the power to recommend policy changes.

The implementation of the team comes in the wake of the scalding deaths of two boys in Yonkers. Luz Arroyo and David Maldonado Sr. admitted they were in a drug-induced stupor while Elijaha Santana and his half brother, David Maldonado Jr., burned to death in a scalding bathtub. Arroyo, the mother of both boys, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of criminally negligent homicide. Maldonado, father of one of the boys, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of second-degree manslaughter and one of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

The DA feels having the team is the best way to prevent tragedies like the one in Yonkers.