Inquest into Zhane Chilcott’s death hears children in state care not receiving enough mental health care, five years after his suicide

Zhane Chilcott took his own life while in state care. Five years later, not enough has changed to stop it happening again, an inquest has heard.

Traumatised children in care are not receiving sufficient levels of psychological treatment because of a lack of specialist resources – and are still at risk five years after a boy with PTSD took own his life, an inquest has heard.

In an affidavit tendered during the inquest into the suicide of Zhane Chilcott, a 13-year-old boy who died while in care of the state, Child Protection Department executive director Sue McDonald said there was an absence of a “well-resourced, dedicated and specialist” mental health service for children in care.

“The current mental health system is not well equipped to deal with the mental health needs of children entering the care system who require varying levels of specialist intervention to deal with their trauma,” she said in her affidavit.

Teenager Zhane Chilcott took his own life while in the care of Families SA.

“In short, the therapeutic resources dedicated to the mental health system are insufficient to systematically address the emergence of early mental health difficulties.

“The absence of a well-resourced, dedicated and specialist service for children in care presents huge challenges for young people in circumstances similar to Zhane’s.”

Zhane had been in the child protection system since he was removed from the care of his biological mother when he was eight months old.

Over his short life he was in placed in at least 18 facilities or foster families.

Zhane reported constant sexual and physical abuse at the hands of one of the foster families with which he was spent around six years.

During the final months of his life Zhane was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He was moved from a placement in Port Pirie back to Adelaide, but his paper work and referral for psychological treatment did not go with him.

An internal report following Zhane’s death found there was “no sense of urgency” around the transfer of the documents.

While the referral languished in Port Pirie, Zhane was without the assistance of the Child and Adolescent Mental Heath Service.

The report found emails had been sent to the wrong internal account, further delaying the transfer.

The referral finally arrived three days before Zhane took his own life.

Ms McDonald wrote in her affidavit that Zhane’s mental health “struggles” were evident in a “wide range of externalising behaviours that were observed both in his home and school environment”.

“The therapeutic support offered to Zhane were due to such struggles, however they were not sufficiently consistent through the course of his life,” she wrote.

In a statement the Women’s and Children’s Health Network said SA families can “rest assured safe and quality care is available to people with mental health needs and children”.

“The WCHN Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) considers children in the care system as a priority population, along with Aboriginal children and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds,” it said.

“The service has a dedicated team for children under care and has more than 270 FTE staff, which includes a mix of social workers, psychologists and occupational therapists and more than 20 FTE child and adolescent psychiatrists across the service.”

The WCHN has introduced new positions to help improve quality of care for patients in the community, including a GP liaison, social worker and mental health nursing co-ordinator.

The inquest continues on Monday.

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