No link between child deaths and reports to department, head of DCP says

The DCP boss has denied a link between child deaths and reports to the department: “Children die and they may have been reported … but it has nothing to do with the department.”

The head of the Department for Child Protection (DCP) has said there may be no link between child deaths and reports to the department.

Head of the DCP Cathy Taylor has denied that many of the deaths were related to DCP reports and cited a report which indicates the number of children who have died has decreased.

“Children die and they may have been reported to the department but it has nothing to do with the department,” Ms Taylor said on ABC Radio on Tuesday.

She said many of the children may have died of unrelated incidents such as motor vehicle accidents.

“It might be something such as a death in a motor vehicle accident,” Ms Taylor said.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a cause or link.”

Ms Taylor cited the Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee annual report which showed a decline in child deaths.

“Across the 17 years they’ve seen a decline,” she said.

The department head highlighted that there is a high volume of children being reported to the department.

“We now get one in three reports of children and young people in South Australia to the department,” she said.

“With those sort of reports we can receive of those children who die each year, it can be between 10 per cent and sometimes it could be 15 per cent who might have had a report to the department.”

She said in light of the child death statistics she would continue to work as the head of the department.

“This has been my great professional passion for the best part of 25 plus years and it’s an honour to do child protection work.”

Almost 60 children who were removed from unsafe parents, or reported to authorities as at risk, have died in the past four years – prompting calls to track their deaths with a public toll.

In two cases, red flags requiring action within 24 hours were raised with the DCP in the year before their death.

At least 17 children were the subject of multiple reports in their final year. The figures are the latest revelation in The Advertiser’s Save Our Kids campaign, launched last year with specific aims to reform the state’s failing child protection system.

However, the department has not released the children’s ages or cause of death.

While children may have died of illness or causes unrelated to their involvement with the system, the toll has been described as “gut-wrenching” and “horrendous” by relatives of children who died after concerns were lodged with authorities about their welfare.

The department released the information in response to a Freedom of Information request. It then listed the documents on its disclosure log on its website – which gives brief detail of all FOI requests which do not contain personal information.

Steven Egberts and Janet Wells, the grandparents of Amber Rigney, 6, and Korey Mitchell, 5, who were murdered along with their mother Yvette Rigney-Wilson in 2016.

These documents are then available to the public, and media, on request. The Advertiser obtained the document through such a request.

Responding to the new information, Janet Wells, whose grandchildren Amber, 6, and Korey, 5, were murdered alongside their mother Yvette in 2016, said: “It’s a big loss; that’s a lot of kids.

“These deaths are devastating. It’s gut-wrenching to know.”

Ms Wells said deaths of children known to DCP should be regularly reported, similar to the road toll. “It should be an eye-opener to see if things are changing,” she said.

The call has been supported by the opposition and Belinda Valentine, whose granddaughter Chloe died in 2012 after 22 reports about her safety.

“It shouldn’t take an FOI request, Ms Valentine said.

“We have a readily available place to find out how many road deaths there have been and that’s not about blaming the police; it’s about knowing what’s going on.

“These children are not just statistics. Everyone should be horrified that this number of children have died.”

Belinda Valentine at home holding a photo of her granddaughter Chloe, who died on January 20, 2012. Picture Emma Brasier

Of 58 children known to DCP who died between 2019 and 2022, eight were living in state care.

Of the other 50, one had been involved in the youth justice system, three were reported as an “adolescent at risk” and at least one had been referred to another agency for support.

There were another at least:

THREE children reported before they even were born.

NINE children where concerns were deemed not to meet the threshold for abuse or neglect.

SEVENTEEN children where a response was deemed to be required within 10 days.

ELEVEN children had no contact with DCP in the year before their death, suggesting reports were made earlier in their lives.

DCP chief executive Cathy Taylor said every child death “is a tragedy” and staff “work hard every day” to keep children safe.

She said DCP shares details about deaths of children known to the department to the Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee, which publishes information about all child deaths in SA annually.

The committee’s latest report shows 104 children died in 2021-22.

It does not report how many children who died each year had contact with child protection, only on a five-year basis.

Between 2016 and 2020 it says 470-plus children died; 71 per cent of “natural causes”.

During that time 148 children who died (31 per cent) were involved with the system in the three years prior to their death.

Opposition child protection spokesman Josh Teague said a “public record of the children who have sadly died, similar to the database used by SA Police for lives lost on our roads, should be explored”, while adhering to “privacy conventions to protect families”.

“These tragedies aren’t something to be kept secret or swept under the carpet,” he said.

FOUR TRAGIC CASE STUDIES

MAKAI WANGANEEN

Northern suburbs schoolboy Makai Wanganeen died almost a year ago after suffering several serious health issues.

The seven year-old, of Craigmore, was taken to Lyell McEwin Hospital on February 10 last year, but later died in the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

A post-mortem found several serious health issues.

Makai Wanganeen

Almost a fortnight later the Coroner’s Office, which was investigating the boy’s death, sought documents from the Child Protection Department after it had been in contact with Makai’s family before his death.

Major Crime detectives widened Task Force Prime – formed to investigate the death of six year-old Munno Para girl Charlie Nowland, who died of malnutrition – in August last year to include his possible criminal neglect death.

No charges have been laid.

Premier Peter Malinauskas appointed former Police Commissioner Mal Hyde to a wide-ranging review after the two children’s deaths.

CHARLIE NOWLAND

Charlie Nowland, 6, was found unresponsive inside her Munno Para home on July 15, 2022.

She was taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital, where she died of malnutrition.

The public was notified of Charlie’s death three days later, and details emerged that four government agencies had contact with the family in the lead-up.

Charlie Nowland.

Police created Task Force Prime to investigate her death, which would later be expanded to also investigate the death of Makai Wanganeen.

Charlie’s mum, Crystal Nowland, said she properly fed and cared for her daughter, including performing CPR as she died.

She said she did her best as a mother and had pleaded for extra help from the Department for Child Protection, but it was not forthcoming.

CHLOE VALENTINE

Chloe Lee Valentine, 4, died after succumbing to head injuries caused by repeated falls off a motorbike. In January 2012, a video filmed by Chloe’s mother Ashlee Polkinghorne shows Chloe continuing to crash the 50cc motorcycle in the backyard of their home at Ingle Farm.

Polkinghorne’s partner, Benjamin McPartland, was also seen in the footage, encouraging Chloe back on the bike, despite suffering several injuries. Chloe fell unconscious and Polkinghorne and McPartland failed to call an ambulance for 8½ hours.

Chloe Valentine.

Following a year-long investigation, Polkinghorne and McPartland were charged with manslaughter and later sentenced to a minimum of four years in prison.

Chloe’s death sparked an inquest by State Coroner Mark Jones and revealed Families SA had received 21 notifications over four years stating concerns for Chloe’s welfare. Social workers who visited the home said they did not believe there was sufficient evidence of abuse to place Chloe under the care of the department.

It was later found Chloe was living in squalor and surrounded by domestic violence and drug use. Polkinghorne and McPartland were released on parole in 2019, but McPartland returned to prison two more times for breaching parole conditions. He’s been under supervision since his release in 2020.

AMBER ROSE RIGNEY AND KOREY LEE MITCHELL

Amber Rose Rigney, 6, and Korey Lee Mitchell, 5, were murdered in May 2016.

The children (pictured) were strangled to death by Steven Graham Peet, the partner of their mother, Adeline Yvette Wilson-Rigney, 28. Ms Wilson-Rigney was also killed by Peet at their Hillier home.

Korey Lee Mitchell and Amber Rose Rigney

Their bodies were discovered after a panicked Peet showed the crime scene to an acquaintance who contacted authorities.

Peet was arrested at the scene and charged with the three murders. Peet admitted to murdering Ms Wilson-Rigney but denied responsibility in the deaths of Amber and Korey, insisting he was in a “dissociative state” when they died.

He delayed the trial on mental health grounds and claimed he was a victim of domestic violence. Months later Peet finally confessed to killing the children. He received a mandatory life sentence with a non-parole period of 30 years, later increased to 36 years following an appeal by the DPP.

It was discovered child protection authorities had been in regular contact with the family in the lead up to the tragedy. The court was told a “cluster” of notifications regarding Amber and Korey’s care was received by Families SA between October 2015 and February 2016. Families SA took no action because of a lack of resources.