Police investigating death of two-month-old girl at Gracemere

When ambulance crews were called to a Qld foster care home a tiny baby girl wasn’t breathing. Now, new details and a confronting image have emerged. *Distressing.

The Gracemere home where foster carers have looked after countless children turned into a crime scene after a two-month-old baby's death.

A two-month-old girl had suffered “life-threatening head injuries” when paramedics arrived at the home of long-time Queensland foster carers, it can be revealed.

The injury detail, previously only referred to as “trauma” was confirmed by the Queensland Ambulance Service on Saturday.

It comes after a home at Gracemere was declared a crime scene following the death of the baby girl whose identity, along with that of her birth parents cannot be revealed by law.

A haunting image taken before her death however shows the tiny baby wearing a pink romper and patterned bib.

A two-month-old baby girl has died after she was found critically injured at Gracemere.

Speaking to this publication on Friday, one neighbour said the baby belonged to a teenage girl who had formerly lived at the home as a foster child.

He said the baby’s mother and her boyfriend were both at the house on that Sunday night.

The Courier Mail does not suggest any wrongdoing by them or the foster carers.

He believed the young mum had moved out when she was about 15 and in the beginning a relationship with the current boyfriend.

“I don’t know where she went to then, “he said, explaining he thought she was about 17 now.

He said the young couple had visited the house with their baby on several occasions recently.

“You would only know they were here because the boyfriend’s car was parked (outside the house on the street),” he said.

“It could be parked for a day, it could be parked for three days.”

“They were always together, the boyfriend and (the teen girl) that I saw anyway.

“It was a complicated little relationship.”

Other former foster children often came back to visit from time to time, the neighbour said.

He was woken up on Sunday night about 11pm to see “police everywhere”,

The house had been under police guard until Thursday when officers packed up and left.

Children’s bikes can be seen strewn around the Gracemere home where emergency crews responded to reports of a two-month-old girl suffering critical injuries. She later died in hospital.

The man and another neighbour said they believed the foster parents who owned the house were returning to the region on Friday.

One said he believed the wife had been in New Zealand giving two foster children a holiday when the incident with the baby occurred.

It was unclear who was at the home on Sunday night or who called triple-0.

The neighbour had found what he believed to be a Department of Child Safety card left at his door.

“They have interviewed all the neighbours by the sounds of it,” he said.

“It’s very sad.”

The foster carer couple were contacted to confirm/clarify these details but declined to comment.

About 10.58pm on January 19 emergency services were called to the Gracemere property following calls an infant was unconscious and not breathing.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman said three groups of paramedics were sent to property in response to a reported “trauma”.

The baby was taken to Rockhampton Base Hospital before being flown to Brisbane where she died on January 22.

Rockhampton Child Protection Investigation Unit detectives and specialist police from Crime and Intelligence Command’s Child Trauma Unit are investigating the death.

Police were contacted and asked to confirm what role the foster carers and birth parents played in the investigation, however, a police spokeswoman could only say: “investigations are ongoing and there is no further information available at this time”.

The Department of Child Safety has also been contacted but under the Child Protection Act could not confirm whether the baby or her mother were in the care of or known to the department.

“The death of this baby girl is a tragedy, and our thoughts are with all those in her family and community who loved her,” a department spokeswoman said.

“If a child is known to Child Safety in the year prior to their death, a child death review process is undertaken by a specialist internal review team. This review is then considered by the independent Child Death Review Board found in the Queensland Family and Child Commission.

“The death of this baby is currently being investigated by police, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further at this time.”

No charges have been laid.

Originally published as Police investigating death of two-month-old girl at Gracemere