Safety officers checked on Mason Lee once when he should have been seen 12 times

Heartbreaking new details have revealed that Mason Lee should have been checked on by Child Safety officers at least 12 times in the lead up to his death – but he was only seen once.

SHOCKING new details in the coroner’s report show under Child Safety guidelines, Mason Lee should have been seen by safety officers face-to-face 12 times between March 15 and June 11 when he died – but he was only seen once.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Read the Coroner’s full findings here

Shockingly the neglected toddler was just sighted just once in that time from the front door of his mum’s house where Child Safety Officers identified as CSO3 and CSO5 “saw that he was walking awkwardly but didn’t ask to check his injuries’.

“Had anyone from the department seen Mason in the weeks before his death they could have saved his life,” the coroner said.

“The department accepts that there was an obvious failure to sight Mason as required and that this is a fundamental requirement of child protection.”

Ms Bentley said there were repeated missed opportunities for Mason’s life to be saved.

“Had CSOs asked where Mason was and insisted on sighting him at any time in April, May or June 2016 they would have discovered he was at Mr O’Sullivan’s residence and should have thereafter made more investigations in relation to Mr O’Sullivan,” she said.

“Had they done so one can only conclude Mason would have been removed from Ms Lee’s care.”

Ms Bentley said every CSO involved in the case cared more about Ms Lee than her children.

“Every CSO and STL involved in Mason’s case was more concerned about Ms Lee and her issues than ensuring the safety of Mason,” she said.

Mason Lee was only checked on once.

“Whilst it is accepted that supporting families is a recognised and successful method of keeping children with their parents and out of the child protection system, that consideration cannot override the primary consideration of protecting vulnerable children.

“In this case supporting Ms Lee continued to be the main focus long after it became evident that Mason was at serious risk of harm and long after proper investigations would have revealed that he was not in the care of the person that all resources were going to support i.e. Ms Lee.”