‘Litany of failures’
CALLS to reform the treatment of Territory children have brought denial, minimisation and deflection following the suicide of a nine-year-old girl in care, according to legal experts.
The Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission has savaged the implementation of the recommendations from the 2017 Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children, following an investigation into the death of nine-year-old “Sammy” while in foster care in March 2020, saying there was a “litany of systemic failures”.
CALLS to reform the treatment of Territory children have brought denial, minimisation and deflection following the suicide of a nine-year-old girl in care, according to legal experts.
The Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission has savaged the implementation of the recommendations from the 2017 Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children, following an investigation into the death of nineyear-old “Sammy” while in foster care in March 2020.
In November, coroner Elisabeth Armitage handed down her findings, which condemned the Department of Children and Families for ignoring repeated warnings from case workers for therapy and pleas from the family for kinship placements.
The NTLAC said the “challenging and distressing” inquiry needed to go further to ensure Territory children were protected while in care.
“The Sammy inquest exposes a litany of systemic failures, poor decisions, unsatisfactory delays and ineffective practices,” it said.
“The commission is concerned that the Sammy inquest will, like so many other reports into the Northern Territory child protection system, be shelved and, in due course, be forgotten.”
The NTLAC said delays in dealing with Sammy’s family, ignoring appeals for kinship placements and her placement with non-Aboriginal carers was part of an “ongoing and common systemic issue”.
“The inescapable inference to be drawn from this disturbing account is that the delays and hurdles are the product of a system in which racism is embedded,” it said.
Territory Families has said 152 of the 218 royal commission recommendations have been implemented, with 63 still underway.
Territory Families Minister Kate Worden said the recent coronial inquiries had led to the establishment of the multiagency community and child safety framework and teams across the NT.
“We have implemented numerous reforms and new programs to the child protection service system ... (including) a new focus on family led decision-making, strengthsbased approaches and a focus on early intervention, family support and multi-agency collaboration,” Ms Worden said.
The Sunday Territorian is awaiting statistics after the Department of Territory Families Housing and Community said there was no centralised data used to track rates of attempted suicide for children in its care, despite two children dying by suicide between 2017-21.