Child attempts suicide after moved from care of grandparents-Sound Familiar?

Child attempts suicide after moved from care of grandparents
Sara Everingham reported this story on Monday, June 7, 2010 18:18:00

Unhappygrammy-My grandson Austin tried to commit suicide at age six, after being removed from mine and his grandfather's home, because DCYF didn't want him around his Aunt. The Aunt who saved him from being beaten, who was thrown against the wall pregnant. The Aunt he loved so much, her's was the first name he spoke. The Aunt he has no memory of since being drugged by the state!

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MARK COLVIN: An inquiry into the Northern Territory's Child protection system has been told that a ten year old boy attempted suicide after he was sent to live with an alcohol-dependent relative in a remote Indigenous community.

An independent Northern Territory politician presented a letter from a senior psychiatrist at the inquiry last week. The psychiatrist says the Northern Territory's Department of Health and Families had been warned that moving the boy would put him in a high risk situation.

Sara Everingham reports.

SARA EVERINGHAM: The story of the ten year-old boy is distressing. It's outlined in a letter from a senior psychiatrist to Northern Territory Health authorities in May this year.

The psychiatrist says the boy had been living happily with his grandparents in a large Northern Territory town and was going to a school which he loved. But he was forced to leave.

The boy's grandmother had a chronic illness and the letter says agencies, including the Northern Territory's Department of Families and Children, decided the boy's grandfather couldn't care for them both.

In the letter the senior psychiatrist says the ten year old had to go back to a remote Indigenous community to be looked after by an Aunty who had an alcohol problem and was extremely neglectful.

(Excerpt from psychiatrist's letter)

PSYCHIATRIST (voiceover): The obvious possibility of engaging an external part-time carer to help look after the grandmother and lighten the grandfather's load was never canvassed. This had disastrous consequences.

(End of excerpt)

SARA EVERINGHAM: The psychiatrist concludes that the boy had what's known as "reactive detachment disorder" and was emotionally vulnerable because of childhood neglect. The boy has no father and his mother has alcohol and cognitive problems.

In the letter the psychiatrist says that once back in the community, the boy was teased at school and then attempted to kill himself.

(Excerpt from psychiatrist's letter)

PSYCHIATRIST (voiceover): This would have had a fatal outcome had not his male teacher caught him just in time.

(End of Excerpt)

SARA EVERINGHAM: According to the psychiatrist the Territory's Department of Families and Children had been warned that moving the boy to the remote community would place him at high risk.

He writes that the warning had come from a psychiatric registrar who'd also suggested the alternative of employing part-time care to help the grandfather cope. The senior psychiatrist's letter has been presented to the board of inquiry into the Northern Territory's child protection system.

The paediatrician Dr Rob Roseby, one of the members of the Board, couldn't comment specifically about this case. But he says so far the inquiry has heard evidence of a system that's overstretched.

ROB ROSEBY: Pretty much everyone who engages with the system is identifying that and commenting about it and that, that is coming from all walks of life really in the Northern Territory Community.

SARA EVERINGHAM: The inquiry had been due to deliver a report to the Government in April this year but has asked for a second extension until September this year. Dr Roseby says that's because of the overwhelming public response.

ROB ROSEBY: There is a sense of urgency. We feel it. They feel it. And I know the public comments from other people contribute to that sense of urgency which is very real.

I guess the balance, the balancing act there is between needing to act and needing to spend some time coming with up sensible actions.

JODEEN CARNEY: Certainly an inquiry was necessary however the delays are unsatisfactory.

SARA EVERINGHAM: The Northern Territory Opposition's spokeswoman for child protection, Jodeen Carney, says it was already well known that the system was in crisis.

JODEEN CARNEY: The child protection system was in crisis late last year. It was known to be in crisis well before then as evidenced by various remarks made by the coroner in relation to several inquests.

People are entitled to ask when will the inquiries stop and when will action begin.

SARA EVERINGHAM: The Northern Territory's Child Protection Minister says he is serious about getting the best results for Northern Territory children.

VON KATSKALIS: I'm determined to work with the enquiry. I'm prepared to work with the community and I call upon the Opposition to work by bi-partisan - bi-partisan in this issue together in order to make sure that all Territory children are protected.

SARA EVERINGHAM: The Associate Professor Leon Petchkovsky is a psychiatrist who has more than 20 years experience working in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. He says the child protection system fails to properly deal with children who are most at risk.

LEON PETCHKOVSKY: The Child and Family Protection agencies seem to get things wrong at both ends of the spectrum. They seem to overreact in situations where overreaction actually worsens the situation. And then they seem to underreact at times when they need to make much stronger interventions.

SARA EVERINGHAM: He says health professionals are frustrated their advice is often ignored.

LEON PETCHKOVSKY: The agency just doesn't seem to take much notice of our views and our concerns.

SARA EVERINGHAM: In the letter about the 10 year old boy the senior psychiatrist says the boy is still at high risk of suicide but is settling in to the remote community. He writes that any future decisions about the boy's movements would have to be carefully considered.

MARK COLVIN: Sara Everingham.

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2010/s2920589.htm