Published Tuesday, 20 February, 2007 at 10:30 AM
Minister for Child Safety
The Honourable Desley Boyle
MINISTER DEFENDS CHILD SAFETY STAFF OVER GOLD COAST CASE
Child Safety Minister Desley Boyle today said a report into the actions of child safety staff in a Gold Coast case showed they had acted reasonably and appropriately.
The Minister was commenting after the Child Safety Department Director General used special powers to publicly release information about the case (see attached statement for the facts of the case).
“Child safety cases are strictly confidential unless there are exceptional circumstances. In this instance misleading comments made to the media were considered by the Director-General to have the potential to significantly undermine public confidence in the Department of Child Safety.
“The case has been reviewed and the summary of facts provided by the Director General shows that on 8 February when child safety officers left the mother at home with her children there were no indications that any harm would come to them.
“The mother did not appear incapacitated by alcohol and was not making threats against herself or her children. The children were comfortable and happy.
“The child safety officers had previously interviewed the mother about the threat she had allegedly made on 25 January and she said she would never harm her children.
“Additionally, the officers had been told that the mother had undergone a psychiatric assessment and there were no concerns about her mental state.
“Nonetheless to be sure they had contacted the grandmother and arranged, cooperatively with the mother, for the children to be cared for by their grandmother that night. She had said that she was on her way to get the children before the officers left the house.
“I am satisfied that the child safety workers who attended acted appropriately and reasonably on the information available to them,” Ms Boyle said.
Ms Boyle said she was tired of critics on the sidelines taking ill-informed pot shots at child safety staff.
“Our child safety staff deal with more than 40,000 calls of suspected child abuse a year. They put up with lies and abuse from very many of the parents involved in these notifications. They even have to deal with death threats against them.
"Our staff are trained to put together all the information available in order to assess the level of risk to the children and then to make a judgement, at least for that period of time, on whether the children can safely remain in their parents' care.
“Child safety officers face public criticism whichever decision they make - for taking the children or for not taking the children. It is common for those unhappy with our decisions to make threats of going to the media - they do this every day of the week.
"Out of the thousands and thousands of investigations of abuse and thousands and thousands of decisions made each year by child safety officers, there will always be some decisions, which with the benefit of hindsight, should have been different. The protection of children when perpetrators of abuse do not admit their failings will always be an imprecise science,” Ms Boyle said.
Ends
Media contact: 3224 7477
20 February 2007
The Minister was commenting after the Child Safety Department Director General used special powers to publicly release information about the case (see attached statement for the facts of the case).
“Child safety cases are strictly confidential unless there are exceptional circumstances. In this instance misleading comments made to the media were considered by the Director-General to have the potential to significantly undermine public confidence in the Department of Child Safety.
“The case has been reviewed and the summary of facts provided by the Director General shows that on 8 February when child safety officers left the mother at home with her children there were no indications that any harm would come to them.
“The mother did not appear incapacitated by alcohol and was not making threats against herself or her children. The children were comfortable and happy.
“The child safety officers had previously interviewed the mother about the threat she had allegedly made on 25 January and she said she would never harm her children.
“Additionally, the officers had been told that the mother had undergone a psychiatric assessment and there were no concerns about her mental state.
“Nonetheless to be sure they had contacted the grandmother and arranged, cooperatively with the mother, for the children to be cared for by their grandmother that night. She had said that she was on her way to get the children before the officers left the house.
“I am satisfied that the child safety workers who attended acted appropriately and reasonably on the information available to them,” Ms Boyle said.
Ms Boyle said she was tired of critics on the sidelines taking ill-informed pot shots at child safety staff.
“Our child safety staff deal with more than 40,000 calls of suspected child abuse a year. They put up with lies and abuse from very many of the parents involved in these notifications. They even have to deal with death threats against them.
"Our staff are trained to put together all the information available in order to assess the level of risk to the children and then to make a judgement, at least for that period of time, on whether the children can safely remain in their parents' care.
“Child safety officers face public criticism whichever decision they make - for taking the children or for not taking the children. It is common for those unhappy with our decisions to make threats of going to the media - they do this every day of the week.
"Out of the thousands and thousands of investigations of abuse and thousands and thousands of decisions made each year by child safety officers, there will always be some decisions, which with the benefit of hindsight, should have been different. The protection of children when perpetrators of abuse do not admit their failings will always be an imprecise science,” Ms Boyle said.
Ends
Media contact: 3224 7477
20 February 2007