| Sumario: | Independent state ombudsmen for child welfare services are proliferating in response to high-profile child deaths viewed as system "failures." They are pressured to root out and hold individuals accountable. Safety Science emerges as an effective approach to learning from critical incidents, including among child welfare jurisdictions. It relies upon space and collaboration for honest evaluation of all influences on case decisions, not just the individuals making them. If children's ombudsmen take the same approach to critical incident review, they can lead the dissemination of Safety Science in child welfare. We review the history and evolution of state children's ombudsmen, their role in critical incident review, and their amenability to Safety Science. An initiative of the New Hampshire Office of the Child Advocate serves as case exemplar for innovation in ombudsman review. We share preliminary observations from ombudsman-led, Safety Science-based, critical incident review with recommendations for evaluating outcomes.
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