Neglected brothers Kaleb and Jonathon let down by Qld authorities, Disability Royal Commission finds

The Child Safety Minister has apologised to two Brisbane brothers after a royal commission found Queensland authorities didn’t do enough to prevent the violence, abuse and neglect they faced for two horrific decades.

Queensland’s Child Safety Minister has apologised for the state’s role in the suffering endured by two Brisbane boys with autism over two decades of neglect, saying “this should not happen in our country”.

The violence and abuse the brothers faces over two decades was preventable and Queensland authorities should have done more to prevent it from happening, the Disability Royal Commission ruled in its findings handed down on Tuesday.

The royal commission also called on the state government to undertake an “independent review” into the treatment of the brothers – known by pseudonyms Kaleb and Jonathon – “at the earliest opportunity”, in a report published on Tuesday.

The brothers were found severely malnourished, wearing nothing but soiled nappies, locked in a bare room with no access to food, water or toilets, while their father lay dead in the next room on May 27, 2020.

An image of Kaleb and Jonathon shown at the Disability Royal Commission. . Photo Supplied

Kaleb and Jonathon were 19 and 17 years old at the time, but the royal commission revealed Queensland government agencies were well aware of the risks from the moment Kaleb was born.

More than 100 complaints were made across at least six departments.

There were also instances of government workers witnessing Kaleb “eating a large raw dog bone” and Jonathon coming to school “smelling of a strong dog odour” and “passing rocks, pebbles during bowel movements”.

The Royal Commission called for the state government to undertake its own independent comprehensive inquiry — a move that Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath had put into motion in June 2020 but called off two months later for reasons “unclear”.

Child Safety and Disabilities Minister Craig Crawford on Tuesday apologised to the boys and their family, saying what occurred “should never have happened”.

“I want to sincerely apologise to Jonathan and Kaleb, for what occurred to them over the 20 years as disclosed by the Royal Commission, this should never have happened,” he said.

“This should not happen in our country, and it should not happen in our state. We must do better, we can do better, and we will do better.”

During the royal commission, Senior Counsel Assisting Kate Eastman revealed Kaleb was in foster care for the first two years of his life, with his intoxicated father calling child safety the same day Kaleb was dropped off to him in 2002 telling them to take him away.

Their mother had an intellectual impairment, anxiety and depression and was known to child safety due to the children she had prior to Kaleb.

Inside the home where Brisbane brothers Kaleb and Jonathon were found in May 2020. Source: Disability Royal Commission

Kaleb and Jonathon, born in 2003, were both diagnosed with global development delays.

Their father was their sole carer from 2004.

The boys were found so severely malnourished in 2020 they had a condition called “kwashiorkor” usually seen in developing nations rife with poverty and famine.

It was revealed numerous state agencies including child safety, housing, and health received collectively hundreds of reports over their diet, hygiene, neglect, and violence perpetrated by their father against them.

The state government will consider the recommendation before putting out its full response.

The recommendations include calls for the state government to compensate the brothers’, to apologise, conduct an independent review into the powers and responsibilities of the departments involved and what each entity should have done to help the two boys.

The Disability Royal Commission also called for the government to expand the operation of the Child Advocate scheme to provide advocacy services to children and young people with disability who are at risk of entering the child protection scheme.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has called for a wider apology to the boys from the state government, and says, with the timeline of the brother’s treatment extending into the time of the Liberal Newman administration, he was also extending an apology.

“Any child who was failed deserves an apology,” he said.

“Any family that was let down deserves to know that their leaders commit to doing better and it doesn’t matter how far that stretches back, those families and those kids are owed it.

“We have to make sure these failings never happen again.”

Opposition Child Safety spokeswoman Amanda Camm called for Mr Crawford to “outline a clear plan” to fix the issue.

“Now the truth has been laid bare and Queenslanders deserve to know from the Minister and this Government that this broken system will be fixed before more children pay a high price,” she said.