Exposed: Repeated failures by FACS to act on warnings about babies’ ice-addicted mum and gran

THE disgusting and violent living conditions of an ice-addict mum whose two baby girls both died before the age of three months can today be fully exposed after a coroner decided repeated failures by authorities must be revealed.

Exclusive pictures show the depravity and drug use the children were subjected to.

THE deaths of two infant sisters within 15 months of each other have exposed a catalogue of catastrophic failures by authorities, who knew for years their siblings were living in a drug-ridden hell but did nothing.

In a rare move, an inquest has released Family and Community Services (FACS) documents that detail some of the 24 warnings made about the girls’ ice-addicted mother and grandmother before the youngsters’ deaths in 2014 and 2015.

The Daily Telegraph has obtained exclusive photographs that show the squalor and drug-fuelled depravity to which the girls and their two siblings were subjected.

FACS executive Kate Alexander tried to block the reports’ release, saying it would “adversely affect the openness and honesty staff bring to reviews” and would “affect the morale and wellbeing of frontline staff”, the inquest heard.

But Magistrate Harriet Grahame said there was “enormous public interest” in learning how “very vulnerable children” are dealt with.

The two tragic Aboriginal half-sisters, known only as BL and DG, were three months and 19 days old respectively when they died.

DG was born in June 2015.

BL was born January 2014.

DG was placed into foster care the day after her birth but died of a heart abnormality soon afterwards.

The inquest has heard evidence that her mother and maternal grandmother — neither of whom can be identified — regularly abused ice in front of the small children.

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It can be revealed the first of about two dozen reports about the mother’s neglect dates back to 2010 when her son, KD, was just 12 months old.

A visitor called in to the FACS helpline describing the rubbish, “dirty nappies” and crack pipes littering the floor.

There was limited food inside the western Sydney home.

The child’s 16-year-old aunt was caring for the baby, the report said, because his mother was a “meth addict” and there was “limited” food in the Western Sydney home.

An after-hours crisis team was alerted but did not respond because the concerned caller hadn’t seen the family in three weeks and they didn’t know if they still lived at the address.

It was referred to the local FACS office but it closed the report without following up because social housing hadn’t flagged anything.

A broken cot inside one of the bedrooms.

Just six weeks later the boy’s maternal grandmother was arrested after being found with cannabis, ice, and her grandson “chewing on” a pouch of drugs and cigarettes in her car.

After just a few hours caseworkers allowed the boy to return to his mother’s house after they found food in the fridge, but the matter was never followed up by the local FACS office due to “competing priorities”.

In another shocking incident in 2011 a shooting took place on the family’s Riverstone front lawn over a reported drug debt, while the little boy was home. A shot was fired into a neighbour’s house during the row.

Dirty clothes and linen piled up in the bathroom.

Yet the local FACS office again closed the report without following up due to “competing priorities”.

This was despite KD being deemed of being at “risk of significant harm” and it being recommended he be seen again within 72 hours.

“Again there were concerns about the state of the home, there was no food in the fridge, no books or toys and KD did not have a room to sleep in,” the document said.

When the boy’s younger brother was born in 2012 there were reports the family was living out of their car and then later of the children playing together unsupervised in a driveway. FACS didn’t respond again because of “competing priorities”.

BL had three serious reports made about her before she was found by police dead in her cot — crowded with blankets, toys, an adult-sized pillow and two bottles — on April 10, 2014. She was just three months old.

A makeshift ice pipe found inside the house.

One was made when she was just six weeks old about her mother smoking ice in front of her children and KD being burnt from a crack pipe.

Two weeks later a neighbour reported a child screeching and that the maternal grandmother was “off her face” on drugs. FACS again closed the report due to “competing priorities”. Soon afterwards BL was found dead by police, with the cause “undetermined” by an autopsy.

A bedroom inside the house where the children’s mother and grandmother regularly smoked ice and other drugs.

Families in grip of drug ice

Her brothers were put into foster care after her death due to their mother’s “problematic drug use and declining mental health”.

BL’s paternal grandmother on Tuesday told the inquest she was looking after the girl but her mother got a court order to get her back.

“I can’t believe how much FACS let us down, she’d still be with us today,” she said outside court.