Inquest into the suicide of Zhane Chilcott hears details of scathing 2018 report into his care

A bureaucrat’s decision to slash funding to a desperate foster father ended in tragedy – and was later savaged in a damning internal report, an inquest has heard.

A secret, scathing report into the death of a 13-year-old boy in state care was revealed only by chance on the first day of an inquest into the child’s suicide.

Under questioning by Coroner David Whittle, Department for Child Protection chief executive Cathy Taylor said she commissioned the report to find missing information about Zhane Chilcott’s experience in care.

The report came to light on Monday when a witness to the inquest made a passing reference to the report.

The report concluded a decision to refuse extra funding to Zhane’s foster father was “indefensible” and had “dire consequences”.

Zhane took his own life on July 12, 2016 at a Morphett Vale residential care facility.

He was only 13 but had been in the child protection system for more than 12 years and been placed in 18 different homes or facilities.

During the opening of the inquest on Monday, Coroner David Whittle heard Zhane had reached a point of stability with a foster carer Stephen Rimes near Gladstone.

The placement ended because the carer could not afford to continue fostering Zhane after his payments were significantly reduced.

On Thursday Department of Child Protection chief executive Cathy Taylor said she commissioned a report by independent consultant Anne Nicolaou in October 2017.

“I had staff approaching me with concerns about the decision made to terminate Zhane’s placement,” she said.

“I wanted to understand why the decision had been made.

“One of the things I took away from the report was a sense of ‘wow, we have so much work to do’.”

Ms Taylor did not assume her position until after Zhane’s death.

Ms Nicolaou’s report focused specifically on the internal decision-making process used to decline Mr Rimes additional funds to care for Zhane, leading to him resigning from the role.

A photo in around 2014 of Zhane Chilcott, taken from his family’s memorial booklet.

“This review cannot defend the decision that was made and finds that there were major faults in the process and the decision,” she concluded.

“As Zhane’s legal guardian, the department failed to safeguard his interests with dire consequences.

“The placement should have been maintained because a critically vulnerable boy needed it; it offered him a real chance at survival.”

The inquest heard internal DCP systems did not contain information to identify the executives who refused the funding.

The report stated there was overwhelming support for the exceptional funding to keep Zhane in Mr Rimes’ care.

His case workers, a psychologist, multiple senior DCP personnel, Zhane’s school principal and police officers petitioned for Zhane to be kept with Mr Rimes.

However, the decision was refused by then-acting DCP country director Caroline Keogh, who told Ms Nicolaou she would not, even with the benefit of hindsight, have done anything different.

The report found there had been “underhand personal discrediting” of Mr Rimes, who was categorised as looking for a financial handout because he had become used to more funding with a previous foster child.

Ms Nicolaou concluded there were considerable issues with DCP processes that a senior bureaucrat made a decision about the clinical wellbeing of a child against the advice of people directly involved with him.

The inquest continues.