Australia: Inquest Hears Turbulent Life of Foster Child who Committed Suicide

“The family of a West Australian boy who took his own life in foster care says he was faced with a revolving door of caseworkers and consistent changes to his medication.

“Child J”, as he is known for legal and cultural reasons, died in Broome in April 2017 while under the care of the Department of Communities.

Over the next three days, Coroner Sarah Linton is set to investigate whether the department or the other agencies and services tasked with his care missed any opportunities that may have saved his life.

In her opening remarks, counsel assisting Sarah Tyler said Child J’s death came just after the commencement of Coroner Ros Fogliani’s landmark inquest into the deaths by suicide of 13 Aboriginal children across the Kimberley, which produced damning findings about the standard of mental health care in the Kimberley.

“A factor that distinguishes Child J’s case from many of the deaths examined in that inquest is that [he] had been engaged with mental health services,” Ms Tyler told the inquest. “And yet that support ceased in 2014, when Child J was 13 years old.

“It appears Child J was lost to follow-up support, likely due to unsettled family placements, a lack of parental engagement with mental health services and his relocation within Western Australia.”

History of disadvantage and uncertainty

The inquest heard Child J had suspected Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and was taken from his family and placed in foster care when he was two years old.

His foster carer from that time told the coroner that she had a number of other children in her care when she was contacted by the department and asked to look after Child J.

She said the full extent of his medical conditions and behavioural problems only became clear later.

“He wasn’t quite right — he didn’t laugh or share emotions, he was traumatised,” the carer said.b”He didn’t talk, didn’t smile, didn’t do anything.”

The foster carer said his behaviour would often manifest in violent outbursts that put the other children in the house at risk, and that he would often tell stories about his jailed father being a “race car driver” to cope with their separation.

“We’d talk a lot about his family,” she said.

“He was missing his dad, missing his mum.

“He was determined — he wanted his family.”

Significant mental health challenges

The inquest heard Child J was on and off medication throughout his life and took antipsychotics to deal with episodes in which he claimed he was being “strangled and hearing voices”.

There were attempts to engage him in a long-term acute mental health inpatient assessment at Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth, but the Department of Communities refused to admit him because of concerns regarding his medication.

His aunt, who saw him on occasion, told the inquest she had noticed the antipsychotics he was on had made him drowsy and disengaged.

“His little body couldn’t function, it’d knock him out,” she said. “He’d sleep the day away.”

When the department eventually agreed to admit him to Princess Margaret Hospital it was too late — he had since been reunited with his mother, but that arrangement quickly broke down.

Having missed his chance to be formally admitted, Child J returned to foster care and his behaviour continued to deteriorate.

In one incident, his foster carer said a case worker came to the house, met Child J and ended up breaking down out of frustration because “he didn’t know what to do”.

Many case workers, limited communication

A family friend told the coroner that Child J had become increasingly frustrated when he was faced with explaining his situation time and again to new case workers, and that the foster carers received very little follow-up from the department when they requested help to manage his behaviour.

“Perth case workers don’t understand Broome families … people are brought up different here from down there,” the friend said.

“I haven’t met an Aboriginal case worker — all the case workers I’ve met are from down south.

“You ask them and they’re only been here six or 12 months, and they move around a lot. “It’s not being racist, but I think an Aboriginal kid relates to an Aboriginal adult more than someone from Perth straight out of school.”

He said the boy’s medication was often changed and there was very little follow-up on whether or not he had improved.

“They weren’t following up on the effects of what was happening,” the friend said.

“He’d be going on and off medications, and it was hard to keep track of all the medicine and appointments.”

The inquest heard Child J threatened suicide on two occasions and was shuffled between placements before he took up briefly with his father in Carnarvon.

Return to Broome, then tragedy

When Child J returned to Broome, the coroner heard he had stopped taking his medication and that his personality had completely changed.

His aunt told the Inquest she had never seen him so happy.

“He was a bright young man, he was just clear, he was mature and different,” she said.

He restarted his relationship with his initial foster carers, who also noted he was “completely different”.

The family friend said Child J wanted to fix his anger issues and asked him for help.

He said Child J was settling into a routine he was enjoying, despite a recent break-up with his girlfriend.

But months after it was believed he had “come good”, Child J took his own life.

“I feel like we failed him,” his foster carer said. “We let him down as a carer, and the department … I just feel like more could have been done.”

The inquest continues.”

Child J inquest hears details of turbulent life before Broome teen’s death in care

[ABC Health 6/15/21]

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