- Toddler Luke got lost in foster system
- The Australian
- 17/03/2009 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: The Rooster ( 258 articles in 2009 )
HE was two years old and shouldn't have had the weight of the world on his shoulders. But he did.
Luke couldn't live with his mother, because she was a drug addict. He couldn't live with his father, because he was also a drug addict.
Luke was taken as a toddler into the care of the Queensland Department of Child Safety.
Like so many of the 25,000 Australian children in state care, he spent time being bounced from one foster home to the next.
Late last year, this rambunctious youngster ended up in the care of a 74-year-old pensioner, who lived in a Queensland unit with three other, older children, all of them state wards.
Luke's father, who cannot be named, says the place was over-crowded and the elderly woman couldn't keep an eye on all the kids at once.
But Luke wasn't there very long. On January 12 he suffered a head injury and went into a coma. He died six days later.
The cause of Luke's death hasn't been determined. The matter is before the coroner. But Luke's father wants an investigation not only into his son's death but into the foster care system.
News of the toddler's death comes in the final week of a Queensland election campaign in which Premier Anna Bligh is fighting for political survival.
It threatens to reignite memories of the state's children's services crisis, which dominated the lead-up to the February 2004 election. Then premier Peter Beattie called the snap election on a platform of reforming child protection laws.
In a statement to The Australian yesterday, Department of Child Safety director-general Norelle Deeth said she was banned by law from "discussing specific cases" but added: "It must be remembered that children are only removed from their families ... because their parents abuse or neglect them."
She said foster parents were "trained and vetted" and this included "many grandparents and other older Queenslanders who lovingly look after children of all ages where their parents are unwilling or unable to do so".
Ms Deeth said the death of any child in care was "extensively" examined by the Department of Child Safety and the relevant independent authorities.
"The circumstances surrounding this case will be detailed
as part of the review process," she said.
"It is also under investigation by the Coroner and it would not be appropriate to comment any further."
The father is also angry about the way he was treated once it became clear that his son was going to die.
"They didn't even have the decency to call me the night it happened," the father said of the Department of Child Safety.
Instead, he was allowed to visit the next day "when more than half (Luke's) brain was dead".
The father said there were three uniformed police officers on the ward when he arrived at the hospital at 9.10am.
He had seen Luke for only two hours a week, supervised, for six months before he died.
He had a long and fractious relationship with the boy's mother, and with the Department of Child Safety's welfare workers.
He was, however, allowed to spend Luke's last days with him, and said the boy died in his arms.
The boy's father told the Coroner that he did not believe the boy was "under satisfactory supervision at the time of his death".
He said he tried five times to have the boy removed from the carer's home.
In a letter to the Queensland Coroner, he said: "I disagreed with the decision to place my child with a 74-year-old woman who was already burdened with three older children, all at home on school holiday.
"This would make it virtually impossible to show the care and attention needed for a two-year-old child.
"I voiced my concerns to a child safety officer who supervised my visits with (the child)."
He said Luke was bruised on his right index finger, and he has asked the Coroner to investigate whether "it may have been caused by one of the other children, who were the only witnesses to the actions which caused Luke's death.
"My suspicion is that he may have been held by the right pointer finger by someone's left hand whilst being struck by the other hand.
"Not knowing the size of the other children, I would ask that you consider and investigate these as legitimate possibilities."
An autopsy is yet to confirm a cause of death. The boy's father said Luke was "constantly" injured while in the foster home, having suffered "a severe burn to his hand and constant severe bruising to his head and body".
"At the day I last had contact with Luke, he had scratches on his face, which I asked the visit supervisor to record."
He said the foster carer told him that the boy had severe bruising on his buttocks "from jumping off his bed".
"She informed me that she could not control him and he kept jumping off the bed," he said. "Did she inform child safety that she was not capable of proper care and control of Luke?"
He said he spoke to child safety officers on January 5 and by phone on January 6.
On January 9, he had a meeting with a welfare officer.
He made two more telephone calls to child safety officers on January 9 and January 12, which was the day that Luke was injured.
Luke couldn't live with his mother, because she was a drug addict. He couldn't live with his father, because he was also a drug addict.
Luke was taken as a toddler into the care of the Queensland Department of Child Safety.
Like so many of the 25,000 Australian children in state care, he spent time being bounced from one foster home to the next.
Late last year, this rambunctious youngster ended up in the care of a 74-year-old pensioner, who lived in a Queensland unit with three other, older children, all of them state wards.
Luke's father, who cannot be named, says the place was over-crowded and the elderly woman couldn't keep an eye on all the kids at once.
But Luke wasn't there very long. On January 12 he suffered a head injury and went into a coma. He died six days later.
The cause of Luke's death hasn't been determined. The matter is before the coroner. But Luke's father wants an investigation not only into his son's death but into the foster care system.
News of the toddler's death comes in the final week of a Queensland election campaign in which Premier Anna Bligh is fighting for political survival.
It threatens to reignite memories of the state's children's services crisis, which dominated the lead-up to the February 2004 election. Then premier Peter Beattie called the snap election on a platform of reforming child protection laws.
In a statement to The Australian yesterday, Department of Child Safety director-general Norelle Deeth said she was banned by law from "discussing specific cases" but added: "It must be remembered that children are only removed from their families ... because their parents abuse or neglect them."
She said foster parents were "trained and vetted" and this included "many grandparents and other older Queenslanders who lovingly look after children of all ages where their parents are unwilling or unable to do so".
Ms Deeth said the death of any child in care was "extensively" examined by the Department of Child Safety and the relevant independent authorities.
"The circumstances surrounding this case will be detailed
as part of the review process," she said.
"It is also under investigation by the Coroner and it would not be appropriate to comment any further."
The father is also angry about the way he was treated once it became clear that his son was going to die.
"They didn't even have the decency to call me the night it happened," the father said of the Department of Child Safety.
Instead, he was allowed to visit the next day "when more than half (Luke's) brain was dead".
The father said there were three uniformed police officers on the ward when he arrived at the hospital at 9.10am.
He had seen Luke for only two hours a week, supervised, for six months before he died.
He had a long and fractious relationship with the boy's mother, and with the Department of Child Safety's welfare workers.
He was, however, allowed to spend Luke's last days with him, and said the boy died in his arms.
The boy's father told the Coroner that he did not believe the boy was "under satisfactory supervision at the time of his death".
He said he tried five times to have the boy removed from the carer's home.
In a letter to the Queensland Coroner, he said: "I disagreed with the decision to place my child with a 74-year-old woman who was already burdened with three older children, all at home on school holiday.
"This would make it virtually impossible to show the care and attention needed for a two-year-old child.
"I voiced my concerns to a child safety officer who supervised my visits with (the child)."
He said Luke was bruised on his right index finger, and he has asked the Coroner to investigate whether "it may have been caused by one of the other children, who were the only witnesses to the actions which caused Luke's death.
"My suspicion is that he may have been held by the right pointer finger by someone's left hand whilst being struck by the other hand.
"Not knowing the size of the other children, I would ask that you consider and investigate these as legitimate possibilities."
An autopsy is yet to confirm a cause of death. The boy's father said Luke was "constantly" injured while in the foster home, having suffered "a severe burn to his hand and constant severe bruising to his head and body".
"At the day I last had contact with Luke, he had scratches on his face, which I asked the visit supervisor to record."
He said the foster carer told him that the boy had severe bruising on his buttocks "from jumping off his bed".
"She informed me that she could not control him and he kept jumping off the bed," he said. "Did she inform child safety that she was not capable of proper care and control of Luke?"
He said he spoke to child safety officers on January 5 and by phone on January 6.
On January 9, he had a meeting with a welfare officer.
He made two more telephone calls to child safety officers on January 9 and January 12, which was the day that Luke was injured.
Source: https://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25197893-601,00.html
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