Inquest into the death of Baby Q

Case Number: 2018/359588

Findings Date: 18 April 2024

Magistrate: Harriet Grahame

CORONIAL LAW | manner and cause of death; mental illness; family violence and neglect; family known to the NSW Department of Communities and Justice and the QLD Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Service; neglect; cumulative harm; NSW Police Force; QLD Police Service; cross-border policing; information sharing

Responses

Recommendations

The QLD Director-General, Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services

1. In situations where Department of Child Safety, Seniors and Disability Services (DCSSDS) refer a family to a family well-being service in the course of an Investigation and Assessment, consideration be given to requiring the family well-being service (however described) to inform DCSSDS if the family disengages prematurely from the service and the reason for the disengagement.

2. That consideration be given to improving access for DCSSDS caseworkers to expert psychological opinion to help them assess risk to children, when working with a family with complex mental health needs.

NSW Secretary, Department of Communities and Justice and the Commissioner of the NSW Police Force

3. That consideration be given to amending ChildStory so that if an Assessment Officer in a Child Wellbeing Unit (CWU) makes an entry under the CWU tab for a family where there is an open file at a CSC, the CSC is automatically alerted to the entry having been made (for example, recording contact with the family and concerns assessed as non-Risk of Significant Harm (ROSH)).

4. That consideration be given to trialling an information sharing portal that gives the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) direct access to limited but relevant information on CoPS (such as criminal history and domestic and family violence information) to better inform an assessment of risk and the preparation of Part 16A requests. The Queensland Self Service of Document Retrieval and Unify initiatives provide a useful precedent.

The Commissioner of the QLD Police Service and the Commissioner of the NSW Police Force

5. That a proposal be taken by Queensland Police Service (QPS) and NSWPF to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, which oversees the National Criminal Intelligence System to trial an information sharing portal that would permit state and territory child protection authorities to have direct access to limited but relevant information on NCIS (such as criminal history and domestic and family violence information) to better inform an assessment of risk and the preparation of further lawful requests for information under state or territory law.