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AUSTRALIANS have a moral responsibility to act if they suspect children are being neglected or abused, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says. Earlier this week, a pregnant woman was charged with criminal neglect after five of her seven children were found among 21 kids living in filth at two northern Adelaide houses. A Canberra mother of four children is in custody after being charged with multiple child-neglect offences and a Brisbane mother and father have been charged with murder and torture following the deaths of their 18-month-old twins. "I think the whole community's got a responsibility ... to act sensitively and responsibly," Mr Rudd told Fairfax Radio Network. "The basic principle here is the protection of our most vulnerable. Little children together with the aged and infirm Australians are the two groups most vulnerable. "Frankly that's a higher call that goes across everything else; that if you have a reasonable suspicion or reasonable concern that a young child is the subject of abuse, I think you've got a moral responsibility to act." AAP (27-6-2008) |
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Child abuse has doubled in past 10 years. High profile cases of alleged abuse spark action. Government vows to provide better protection. IT TOOK the discovery of four children starving in squalor just kilometres from Federal Parliament to shame our politicians into creating a national strategy on child neglect. As a court yesterday heard details of the latest case of alleged child abuse, politicians at last pledged to do more to protect society's most vulnerable. The Rudd Government, insisting it was already responding to the growing crisis, announced it would provide "critical leadership" by improving communication between child protection authorities. Families and Community Services Minister Jenny Macklin promised information-sharing of child protection information within and across jurisdictions. The Government will focus on introducing better prevention measures, better integrating services and at "attracting and retaining the right work force". A spokeswoman for Ms Macklin said elements of a new national framework would be delivered by the end of the year. In Parliament yesterday, Ms Macklin said the recent cases of alleged child neglect and starvation were "shaking every one of us to our foundations". "Child abuse is a crime. It's a crime that must see the people perpetrating it punished. "As a nation we ... also need to do a much better job at protecting children from abuse and neglect," she said. In the past 10 years child abuse cases have doubled, and in 2007 there were about 60,000 cases in which authorities found a child was either likely to be harmed, abused or neglected. Ms Macklin's announcement coincided with the court appearance of a 35-year-old Canberra mother of six charged with four counts of child neglect. It is the third case of alleged child neglect reported in less than a week, following the starvation death of 18-month-old twins in Brisbane and the charging of a mother of seven for the alleged neglect of five of her children in Adelaide. While welcoming Ms Macklin's announcement, Family Relationship Services Australia's executive director Sam Page called on the Federal Government to act immediately. "I think the key point about the tragic cases we've seen over the past week is that the Commonwealth needs to do everything in its power, needs to throw its whole weight behind a system to better protect children," Ms Page said. Association of Children Welfare Agencies chief executive Andrew McCallum said only an approach that included all levels of Government could bring down the numbers of abused and neglected children. The Daily Telegraph (27-6-2008) Alison Rehn, Brad Watts, Clare Masters |
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HUNGRY and alone, four children huddled together watching television in the government-owned house amid the rancid smell of dog faeces and rotting food. The children - including a five-year-old girl - were unable to wash themselves properly in the unsanitary bathroom of the suburban Canberra home, where urine and faeces lay on the shower floor. Their 35-year-old mother was nowhere to be found. Yesterday, however, she faced court on four counts of child neglect. Knives were found concealed in piles of the children's dirty clothing and a pot roast in the oven was full of "mould and decay", the ACT Magistrates Court heard. Constable Jarryd Dunbar told the court there was no adequate supply of food or clean clothing for the children aged 5, 7, 10 and 13. This gut-wrenching scenario confronted police last Sunday when they arrived at the northern Canberra public housing home, which neighbours last night demanded be sold off to give them some peace and quiet. Police also reported "suspicious activity" at the five-bedroom house during the night. The court was told that visitors only stayed about 10 minutes. With pressure mounting on government agencies to act on child neglect issues, a concerned neighbour told The Daily Telegraph the "problem-house" was "a dump" that almost burnt down last year in a kitchen fire. "The family came back after a while, and before that, a previous tenant tried to commit suicide," the neighbour said. "It's really quite doomed. We would like to see it sold off. "The kids were quite wild and they were always let loose in the streets without supervision." The children's mother - who was already on bail for a previous offence - was also accused by her cousin of being unfit to have custody of her children based on the squalid conditions of the home. The male cousin, who has temporary custody of the four children, described the care and commitment of the mother as "disgraceful". But he admitted that she was a good mother "when herself". At the court hearing the woman - who has six children and was described by her lawyer as quite distressed - called out, "I didn't do it". The court heard that she also allegedly repeatedly threatened to kill a family friend who lived nearby. Police said she allegedly drove past the woman's house and made a motion of slitting her throat, and also threw a rock at a car. The prosecution opposed bail saying she was a flight risk and had already breached bail conditions. THE family of a 13-year-old girl missing for three days after being put on a train by Department of Community Services staff claim DOCS failed even to call police. The girl was found yesterday by two alert Cronulla police officers. The Daily Telegraph (27-6-2008) Brad Watts |
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YET another case of alleged child neglect emerged yesterday with children as young as five found living in "unhygienic" conditions in the heart of the nation's capital. Three boys and a girl were taken away after being found home alone at a house littered with rubbish, dog bones and discarded toys in the Canberra suburb of Ainslie, just a few kilometres from Parliament. Gallery: Shocking pictures from the houses of horror Their 35-year-old mother remains in police custody after yesterday being charged with four counts of neglecting a child and a charge of threatening to kill a person. No further details were released about the charges yesterday. Authorities said they had been aware of the problem "for a long period" and in 2005 the ACT Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services applied to remove the children into care and protection. But the application failed and authorities were instructed to "case-manage the family in their home on a regular basis". "These orders recently expired," a department spokesman said. However, several neighbours yesterday described regularly hearing yelling and disturbances at the house where police found the children at home alone and living in what they described as "unhygienic conditions". One neighbour, who has lived next door for about 18 months, described the house as "a mess" and said he had become concerned when the children were wandering "aimlessly" around the streets. "She's known to do fire dances in the middle of the night, ranting and raving and swearing. We see the kids alone on weekdays when they should be at school," the neighbour said. Another neighbour said there were also two teenage boys living at the house but they had remained at the property. Authorities said the "family situation is extremely complex". The case comes just days after a 28-year-old mother of seven was charged with neglecting five of her children as authorities found another nine children from their rubbish-strewn property. And in Brisbane last week, a mother and father were charged with murder, torture and failing to provide the necessities of life after their twins were found dead in their house. In the latest Canberra case, the children remain in the care of ACT Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services following a brief custody hearing yesterday that was adjourned until Friday. The department said it had been involved with the family for "a long period" and over recent years the courts had also been involved. "The Department has continued to have concerns about the situation and were monitoring the family closely," a spokesman said. The woman was due to face the ACT Magistrates Court this morning. The Daily Telegraph (26-6-2008) Brad Watts |
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NEIGHBOURS should pay more attention to what's going on in troubled homes to help prevent child neglect, Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce said. His comments came as a 35-year-old mother prepared to face an ACT magistrates court over charges she neglected her four children by leaving them home alone and living in squalor. It was the latest case in a series of allegations of serious child neglect. Senator Joyce urged householders to dob in their neighbours if they thought something was amiss. "Without being nosy, have a bit of a think about who's over your back fence,'' he said. "And if you see kids walking around that obviously are neglected, then you're not being nosy, you're doing your social responsibility, to make the call and say can you just send someone round there to stick their head in the door.'' Neglected children should be taken away from their families, because neglect could lead to more serious problems like sexual abuse, Senator Joyce said. He also called for the problem to be tackled through schools or childcare. Some other countries insisted on child health checks every six months or so, and this was worth looking at, he said. He blamed the disintegration of the family unit for some cases of child neglect. "We should have a community, we've got to build up the premise of community,'' Senator Joyce said. Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said the community had a role to play in tackling child abuse. "There's a job on all of us there," he said. If someone thought something was going wrong for a family, neighbours should let the authorities know so early intervention could take place. Treasurer Wayne Swan said the Government had a plan to tackle the issue. "I think you will find if you talk to families minister Jenny Macklin, she has a very comprehensive agenda in this area," he said. AAP (26-6-2008) |
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