Education department manager ‘dismayed’ at lack of records before children’s deaths, inquest hears

THE NT Education Department missed crucial opportunities to intervene in the lives of three children lost to petrol sniffing in remote Aboriginal communities, an inquest has heard

Coroner Greg Cavanagh is holding a joint hearing into the deaths of three children in remote communities with a history of substance abuse. Picture: Che Chorley

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THE NT Education Department missed crucial opportunities to intervene in the lives of three children lost to petrol sniffing in remote Aboriginal communities, an inquest has heard.

Coroner Greg Cavanagh is holding a joint hearing into the deaths of Miss B, 17, Master W, 12 and Master JK, 13 — whose families requested their full names not be used — due to the similarities in the lead up to their untimely deaths.

On Friday Education Department manager Shane Dexter told the inquiry a review conducted in response to correspondence from Mr Cavanagh’s office found no evidence efforts made to re-engage the children in school were “timely, consistent, sustained or effective”.

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Mr Dexter said while the inquiry had heard from witnesses who described ad hoc attempts at intervening to support the children, he was “dismayed” to discover none were formally recorded.

“There are sections in the template plan allowing the team meeting with the family to list the programs and supports that were available in the community to assist the child and family of (the child) to go to school more often and another section that allowed the officer completing the plan to refer to other agencies for support,” he said.

“Unfortunately in relation to Master W — and indeed in relation to all three of the children that I reviewed — those sections of the plan were completely blank.

“These are significant missed opportunities.”

Mr Dexter said his review found Miss B was absent from school up to 28 times to attend funerals and there were “multiple records” of authorities being aware of her having substance abuse issues or self harming in the years prior to her taking her own life.

But Mr Dexter said he found “limited records” of referrals being made for her to access additional support or counselling.

“I’ve sat here this week and I heard on successive occasions that the school was involved in meetings or in some cases had made reports but what I didn’t find is the evidence that had been done and recorded on our files,” he said.

“Because there are no records of it, my finding is that despite the evidence that Miss B was receiving some support from relevant other agencies and that was known to us, there may well have been missed opportunities for us as the department and the school to bring other resources to bear to make sure Miss B was getting the support she clearly needed.”

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Similarly, Mr Dexter said his review found there were “ a number of opportunities” to intervene in Master JK’s life “but I did not find records to show that they occurred”.

The inquest continues on Monday.

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