Families SA failed to investigate numerous reports of abuse and neglect of children in Hillier triple murders

The two children murdered at Hillier in 2016 were the subject of repeated reports of alleged abuse before their deaths, as the State Ombudsman lashes Families SA for its failure to properly investigate.

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At least 11 reports of alleged abuse or neglect were made about two young children in the years leading up to their brutal murder, alongside their mother, in 2016.

A report by the State Ombudsman, released today, reveals repeated concerns were raised about the safety of siblings Amber and Korey while in the care of their mother Yvette Rigney-Wilson, including that she was abusing drugs, that Amber missed months of school and the family was forced to sleep overnight in a tent when they were “rendered homeless”.

Ombudsman Wayne Lines has lashed the state’s child protection agency, then known as Families SA, for failing to properly investigate the concerns or to share information with the children’s grandparents who were desperate to help.

He has lamented a “missed opportunity” to help the children, made worse in light of the fact that the agency also received concerning reports about abuse of an older brother of Amber and Korey in late 2014.

The now 11-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons and is referred to in the report as Child C, is now living with the children’s paternal grandparents Steve Egberts and Janet Wells.

Korey and Amber Rigney-Wilson, right, with their brother, who cannot be identified. Korey and Amber were murdered by Steven Graham Peet in 2016.

Mr Lines noted that if the agency was “truly satisfied that the mother had physically abused Child C, (Amber) and (Korey) were, by definition, likely also at risk” but a full safety assessment was not done.

Ms Rigney-Wilson, then 28, Amber, 6, and Korey, 5, were killed by Ms Rigney-Wilson’s then-partner Steven Graham Peet in May, 2016. A total of 18 reports were made about the family since August 2008, including a number in the months leading up to the murders, although none involved Peet.

The Ombudsman’s 72-page report finds concerns raised about Amber and Korey, including by family members and teachers, painted “a clear picture of disarray, substance abuse and neglect” in the household and “nothing” to indicate that the “situation was likely to improve” without intervention.

However, in most cases the agency argued it did not have the resources to take action.

It deemed six reports — including about Amber missing large amounts of school and the family being “rendered homeless” at one point — did not meet the threshold for intervention. Mr Lines writes that these cases “should never have been” dismissed and he “simply cannot understand” why they were.

Adeline Yvette Rigney-Wilson

Another four were rated as Tier 2 concerns, including reports the children were left with relative strangers and weren’t given food, but were closed without any action.

One report sparked an investigation, which was launched less than three weeks before the murders.

Mr Lines argues “no reasonable person could have concluded that (the children) … were not at risk” based on information put to the agency.

“The agency neglected or ignored a succession of opportunities to meaningfully assess the risk to which (Amber) and (Korey) were being exposed,” his report states.

It was prompted by a request about a year ago from Mr Egberts and Ms Wells, who argue they should have been told about the repeated reports concerning Amber and Korey.

Mr Egberts has said he would “never have trusted” the agency if he had known the extent of the concerns and inaction at the time.

Mr Lines found that there were a number of ways in which the agency could have shared information with the grandparents, including through existing information-sharing guidelines or by an order of the chief executive.

Instead, the agency “prioritised its considerations of privacy and confidentiality over the safety and wellbeing of the children”.

The children’s grandfather Steven Egberts with his partner Janet Wells. Picture: Kelly Barnes/The Australian

He has now recommended that child protection workers be allowed to share this kind of information if they knew someone was at risk and the principle be put into law.

Following the release of the report, current Child Protection Department boss Cathy Taylor said it accepted the recommendations and had issued a clarification to staff.

Ms Taylor said the department was already considering ways to provide feedback to people who make reports about children and the practice of closing cases “due to lack of resources is being phased out” by legal changes which allow staff to refer cases to other departments or organisations for help.

“While the person who perpetrated this horrific act was not the subject of concerns raised with the department, the family was known and we accept more could have been done to keep the children safe,” she said.

Attorney-General Vickie Chapman said she would prepare an amendment to current laws to ensure it was “crystal clear” that privacy considerations were secondary to sharing information necessary to protect children.

Ms Chapman described the report as “damning”. She praised the “courage” of Mr Egberts and Ms Wells and acknowledged they would be “very, very distressed and angry” at what was “a failure to act” by the child protection system.

Mr Lines notes the agency “may be tempted to emphasise its own responsibility to intervene in cases of suspected abuse or neglect”, instead of sharing information with concerned relatives.

But the sheer number of cases it closed without taking action meant that “more often than not the agency is failing to satisfy that responsibility”.

“Of course, the need to share information (with others) may be reduced or negated entirely by effective and timely intervention by the agency. Such actions was plainly lacking in the present case,” he writes.

“The agency … out of inertia or complacency or misplaced priorities elected to do nothing rather than something.

“It was wrong because (Amber) and (Korey) are gone and those remaining have lost all faith in the system that was set up to protect them.”

Families SA was lashed by State Coroner over the death of Chloe Valentine in 2012. She died after sustaining head injuries at the hands of her mother and her mother’s partner.

Mark Johns branded Families SA “broken and fundamentally flawed” in his findings.

For support phone 1800 RESPECT or Relationships Australia on 1300 364 277.

To report suspected child abuse or neglect phone the CARL hotline on 131 478.