Child Protection Department boss Jackie Bray commits to publishing data on child deaths

Child protection authorities have pledged to be more transparent about deaths of at-risk children, as new figures reveal how many young lives were lost in 2023.

Child protection authorities have pledged to be more transparent about child deaths after new figures reveal 17 young people living in state care, or known to the system, died last year.

Among them were nine youngsters under the age of 10.

In one case, a red flag requiring action within 24 hours was raised with the Department for Child Protection (DCP) in the year before the child’s death.

The details have been released by the DCP following a Freedom of Information request and subsequent queries by The Advertiser.

Jackie Bray CEO of the Department of Child Protection. Picture: Kelly Barnes.

Now DCP chief executive Jackie Bray has confirmed she will proactively publish information about child deaths in future annual reports.

Ms Bray said the state government was also developing a new process for “real-time” reviews of the circumstances around a child’s death across all agencies involved with them, such as health, education, housing or police.

It is expected to begin operating this year.

“It is devastating that 17 young people have lost their life,” Ms Bray said.

“Without identifying specific details of any cases, the tragic reality is that most of these deaths were found to have occurred due to pre-existing medical conditions.”

Ms Bray said she had “confidence” that reports of at-risk children were responded to appropriately.

Documents released by the DCP show three of the 17 children who died in 2023 were living in state care at the time.

Another young person had been in care but died after turning 18.

Of the remaining 13 youths, 10 had been the subject of a report to the DCP at least once in the year prior to their death.

These cases included:

A REPORT about an unborn baby.

A RED flag requiring a response within 24 hours.

TWO cases requiring a response within 10 days.

AN incident of family violence.

FOUR reports deemed not to meet the threshold for abuse or neglect.

Jackie Bray CEO of the Department of Child Protection. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

Nine deaths were attributed to medical issues, which could include stillbirth, disease or disability, and six were ruled non-medical, which could include accidents or suicide.

In two cases the cause of death was unknown.

Ms Bray said every death was reviewed by the DCP adverse events review committee and others may be the subject of coronial inquests.

There are more than 4800 children living in state care and the DCP fields more than 100,000 reports about children potentially at risk each year.

In January last year The Advertiser revealed that 58 children in state care, or known to the department, had died between 2019 and 2022.

Within days of the revelations former DCP boss Cathy Taylor resigned from her post, after more than six years at the helm.

Originally published as Child Protection Department boss Jackie Bray commits to publishing data on child deaths