NSW’s tragic child suicide figures as government department goes woke

An MP has slammed a NSW government department’s decision to de-gender its language saying it’s a “pathetic distraction from saving children at risk of harm”.

Sixteen babies known to government welfare agencies died “suddenly and unexpectedly” last year - as the department responsible for the state’s most at-risk children comes under fire for “going woke” and “degendering” its language around pregnant women.

The latest figures on the deaths of children who have been either reported to the NSW Department of Community and Justice (DCJ), or are “known to the department”, also reveal a shocking toll of youth suicide.

During 2020, twelve vulnerable NSW children known to the welfare authorities killed themselves, the youngest being just 12 years of age and the oldest 17.

100 children in NSW who died in 2020 were known to the Department of Community and Justice.

The tragic figures are revealed in the latest DCJ Child Deaths 2020, which concedes that bureaucrats are not likely to meet a “Premier’s Priority” target of cutting the number of children who get re-reported multiple times for being at risk.

The report comes as DJC, responsible for checking on the welfare of the state’s most vulnerable or neglected children and babies, revealed it had decided to go woke and “de-gender” its language.

One Nation’s Mark Latham has campaigned against bureaucrats trying to change the language around pregnant women. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Peter Lorimer

Under its update on “casework policy and practice”, it announced it was “de-gendering language from pregnant women to expectant parent”.

One Nation MP Mark Latham, who has campaigned against gender ideology, said the department had “grown way out of touch with the community it is supposed to serve”.

“De-gendering language is a pathetic distraction from saving children at risk of serious harm,” he said.

“One life lost is too many and the department ought to be ashamed of themselves that, lost in their political correctness, they are unwilling to use the words ‘pregnant women’.

“Only women can have babies. It is more interested in how things sound at eastern suburbs dinner parties than caring for vulnerable young lives in NSW.”

Of the 16 baby deaths from “sudden unexpected death in infancy” (SUDI) last year, all were under the age of eight months and fourteen were boys.

Ten of the bubs had already had a report made about them before they died and six were known because of reports about their siblings.

In one case, the department had received a notification but the baby’s case was closed without an assessment because the family was not located and in another case the assessment was not done because “capacity issues at the community service centre that prevented a child protection response”.

Risk factors for the babies had included parents taking drugs or alcohol, fathers being violent towards mothers, neglect and physical abuse. Other dangers were poor sleeping practices including soft toys around their head or being put to sleep somewhere other than a cot or bassinet.

All up, 471 children across NSW died last year and of those, just under one in five, or 100 were known to authorities after welfare checks or being in foster care.

Among the tragic deaths recorded of children known to welfare authorities were drug overdoses, drownings, fires, accidental asphyxia and suspicious injuries.

Despite a target of cutting the number of children re-reported at risk of significant harm by 20 per cent by the year 2023, the report found the rate has remained at 40 per cent mark and the “trajectory is not approaching the target”.

 A Department of Communities and Justice spokeswoman said the department extended its deepest sympathies to the families of the children who died.

She said the government had made two significant new investments to prevent suicides in children - $109 million to recruit 25 new eight-person ‘Safeguards’ mental health response teams across the state, supporting at risk children and their families. It is also spending $14 million to train 275,000 parents, teachers, school peer leaders and members of community groups and sporting clubs in suicide prevention, the largest program of its kind ever undertaken.

“The Child Deaths Annual Report affords us an important opportunity to learn from past experiences and to make us continuously strive for best practice,” she said.

“This year’s report focuses on suicide and highlights the need for government agencies and non-government organisations to improve practice and better respond to information about children’s mental health.”

Lifeline: 13 11 14

Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800

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