Girl born with drugs in her system allegedly sexually assaulted after being returned to meth-using mother’s care

A child who was born with drugs in her system and ingested meth at four months old was returned to her mother’s care before being allegedly sexually assaulted by a family member.

A relative of the girl was told by a detective they couldn’t proceed with the investigation without being told to by the Child Protection Department. Picture: Supplied

A child who was born with drugs in her system and ingested methamphetamine when she was four months old was returned to her mother’s care before being allegedly sexually assaulted by a family member.

The girl, who was in the care of another family member for almost three years, was returned to her mother’s care in October last year despite repeated warnings from relatives.

Documents obtained by The Advertiser also show the Child Protection Department was aware for several years of her mother’s illicit drug use and violent relationships before the alleged assault in June.

On June 23, the girl told a relative she had been “touched” by an older family member after the relative noticed symptoms they believed were consistent with a sexual assault.

The girl was taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital and the alleged sexual assault was reported to police.

However, the relative who reported the alleged sexual assault to police said the investigation had been abandoned just two days later at the instructions of the Child Protection Department.

A detective investigating the alleged sexual assault told the relative “as far as SAPOL’s concerned, at this stage the matter’s closed”.

A child who was born with drugs in her system and ingested methamphetamine at four months old was returned to her mother's care before being allegedly sexually assaulted by an older family member. Picture: Supplied

The girl was returned to her mother’s care after ingesting methamphetamine at four months old. Picture: Supplied

“After discussions between DCP and child protective services … the matter won’t be progressing,” the detective said.

“There will not be a further forensic examination conducted and that is a decision that is made by medical staff who work with the Child Protective Service.

“We don’t actually make a decision about whether a forensic examination will be made and those decisions are made, primarily, with the interests of the child.”

Another detective told the relative the decision to investigate further or not was made by the Child Protection Department.

“It’s up to them (the Child Protection Department) it’s not up to me,” they said.

“I can’t proceed without them telling me ‘yes, we’re going to do an interview’.”

In medical reports obtained by The Advertiser, the doctor who treated the girl wrote “she told me that the (family member) has (been) inserting his fingers into her vagina”.

She demonstrated this action to both the relative and treating doctor.

A relative of the girl was told by a detective they couldn’t proceed with the investigation without being told to by the Child Protection Department. Picture: Supplied

A relative said the Child Protection Department “knew all along” the risks posed to the girl in her mother’s care.

“To me it was intentional,” they said.

“That’s how they (the Child Protection Department) work, that’s the whole system.

“It’s more clear to me that it’s actually a cover up.”

They said the department had “failed” the girl “multiple times over and over again”.

An SA Police spokeswoman said the joint police, Child Protection Department and Child Protection Services investigation into the alleged sexual assault was undertaken in line with “established Child Protection investigation protocols”.

No charges have been laid.

Documents related to the girl and obtained by The Advertiser, show the department was aware her mother was using methamphetamine three times a day, including while pregnant and two weeks before her daughter was born.

The documents show the girl, now almost 4, tested positive for opiates when she was born but was not removed from the care of her parents until she was taken to hospital after ingesting methamphetamine and benzodiazepines on February 20, 2020.

She was initially taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital but her condition was deemed so serious she was taken to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

She remained in intensive care for several days before being discharged from hospital on February 27.

“She nearly died,” a relative told The Advertiser.

“It was really hard to comprehend how you could do that to a defenceless baby.”

Following the incident, police attended the girl’s home where they located methamphetamine, cannabis, used needles, prescription drugs and “ice pipes”.

The documents show there had been 16 notifications made to the Child Protection Department, including about the parents’ methamphetamine use, between December 2010 and the time of the incident.

“Both parents have a long history of illicit drug use including methamphetamine which has persisted despite DCP intervention in 2019,” a Child Protective Services paediatrician wrote.

After the incident, the girl was removed from her mother’s care and placed in a relative’s care but in October last year, she was reunified with her mother without an explanation from the Child Protection Department.

A department report states in the months after the incident, both parents continued to test positive for illicit drugs, or refuse to be tested at all, and provided false urine samples.

Child Protection Department chief executive Jackie Bray. Picture: NCA Newswire/Kelly Barnes

A government spokesman said the alleged sexual assault was “immediately investigated”.

“SAPOL, CPS and DCP worked collaboratively in a multi-agency assessment of the case to determine there was no evidence to support the allegations,” the spokesman said.

The Advertiser was not provided with responses to questions about why the girl remained in her mother’s care after testing positive to opiates at birth.

Nor were responses provided to questions about why the girl was returned to her mother’s care last October.

“All appropriate processes were followed,” the spokesman said.