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Acting Child Advocate Christina Ghio speaks on youth camp safety at a Children's Committee public hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2025 in Hartford. Credit: Ginny Monk / CT Mirror

A report released Thursday by the Office of the Child Advocate showed a slight decline in “non-natural child fatalities” in 2025 in Connecticut, although the office noted a concerning increase in the percentage of children under 15 who had died by suicide.

The report showed a total of 67 child deaths in 2025, compared to 83 the previous year. The decline marked a 15% when compared to the previous five-year average.

According to the report, 62% of children that died by suicide were under the age of 15 in 2025, compared for 34% in the four previous years.

“The fact that we have more children at younger ages who die by suicide is deeply concerning and we want to make sure that parents know the resources available to them,” Child Advocate Christina Ghio said, such as urgent crisis centers and the 988 mental health and suicide hotline.

Ghio said that while the number of children who died was concerning, so too is the number of children who visit Connecticut emergency departments daily with self-harm or suicidal ideation: 16.

“This is a report on the deaths but I think it’s important to remember that there are many, many many more children also experiencing the same feelings,” she said.

Earlier this month, state officials and providers announced the state’s Transforming Children’s Behavioral Health Policy and Planning Committee are launching a marketing campaign to promote mental health services available to children in the state.

Connecticut has urgent crisis centers, which operate as walk-in clinics for children needing mental health services in Hartford, New Haven, Waterbury and New London. The state also has a mobile crisis intervention program available by calling United Way at 211.

The report also found that 15 babies died in 2025 due to unsafe sleep conditions, and in all of those cases their environments did not comply with recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics for safe sleep. That number is down from 23 babies in 2024, but Ghio said it’s a troubling figure in light of efforts that have been made to raise awareness.

“The state has made an ongoing effort to reduce those numbers but there is sort of a persistent significant number over time that continues, so we really want to get the word out to parents and caretakers to ensure children are placed in safe sleep environments at all times,” she said.

Parents should always place a baby on its back, Ghio said. The AAP recommends that babies sleep in a space such as a crib or bassinet with no other people, with a firm mattress, a fitted sheet and no loose blankets, pillows or soft toys around them.

The report also noted an increase in the number of children who died in moped or motorcycle accidents in 2025, up to four children from two in 2024. The trend concerned Ghio because of the increased prevalence of e-bikes and related injuries among children.

Laura Tillman is CT Mirror’s Human Services Reporter. She shares responsibility for covering housing, child protection, mental health and addiction, developmental disabilities, and other vulnerable populations. Laura began her career in journalism at the Brownsville Herald in 2007, covering the U.S.–Mexico border, and worked as a statehouse reporter for the Associated Press in Mississippi. She was most recently a producer of the national security podcast “In the Room with Peter Bergen” and is the author of two nonfiction books: The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts (2016) and The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo Garcia (2023), which was just awarded the 2024 James Beard Award for literary writing. Her freelance work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. Laura holds a degree in International Studies from Vassar College and an MFA in nonfiction writing from Goucher College.