Child Services not confirming status
CHILD Safety Services is refusing to say if it put in place a safety parenting agreement to protect the baby before she was found dead on Surfers Paradise beach.
The under-siege department is not commenting on whether staff tried to remove the newborn from the street or check on its wellbeing by visiting squats.
The Bulletin yesterday put several questions to Child Safety Minister Di Farmer after police confirmed the couple had been under the watch of her departmental officers.
The Minister declined to comment on whether there had been an intervention with parental agreement (IPA), which essentially allows the parents to retain the children as long as they agree to regular visits and checks by staff.
Emergency services sources fear there was a “reunification at all costs” approach by the department.
The Bulletin previously highlighted separate cases, including one in which attempts were made to reunite a pot-smoking and violent mother who bashed her four-year-old indigenous daughter, and how another in which young twins were hospitalised after their two allegedly violent and cannabis smoking parents were on a parental agreement.
“It’s reunification at any cost. In this case they paid the ultimate cost. It is inexcusable,” an emergency services source said.
Bond University criminologist Dr Terry Goldsworthy, a former detective with experience in the juvenile aid bureau, said the safety of children should be the first priority and not reunification of the family.
Dr Goldsworthy said the department would have had to make a call on whether the parents were providing “the essentials of life” for the child.
“That’s the question the department has to ask itself,” he said. “If they are sleeping rough, in the open to the elements, that isn’t suitable. Sleep- ing in a car isn’t either.”
Opposition leader Deb Frecklington yesterday asked “what the hell were they (the department) doing leaving that child there?”
“If that baby was known to authorities … why was she left there (in a park by the beach)? This is a little baby, a little baby girl. It is so tragic … it just breaks my heart. We need to do everything to protect our kids.”
LNP Gold Coast frontbencher Ros Bates said the public had a right to know what precautions the department took to ensure the child’s safety.
Ms Bates had highlighted the increasing workload on Coast Child Safety workers and put the spotlight on cross-border issues with staff, saying they were frustrated by bureaucratic “red tape” on cases.
Notifications in southeast Queensland have increased from 3578 in 2016-17 to 3653 in 2017-18, but Ms Farmer recently argued the system was improving with more than 300 investigations starting on time compared to 12 months ago.
“The death of any child is an absolute tragedy and my heart goes out to the family, friends and community members who knew her,” Ms Farmer told the Bulletin yesterday.
She said she was unable to discuss the case for legal reasons but a two-tier review process ensured it would be thoroughly investigated.
“The first is an internal Systems and Practice Review undertaken by the Department, the second is an external review of the Department’s review by the independent Child Death Case Review Panel,” she said. “This two-tiered approach ensures a robust and independent examination of our systems and practice.
“I know everyone wants answers, and so do I, but we need this to be done properly and we need to allow police the time and space to do their job.
“My department will work with Queensland Police as they determine exactly what has happened.”