FAMILY FIGHTS TO WIN BACK CUSTODY AFTER ‘UNFAIR’ CHILD REMOVAL
BY ROBYN MARAIS AND GERARD MAZZA
A painting by the younger brother of Claire*, a mother who has had her child taken from her by the Department of Communities. Credit: Robyn Marais.
A Perth-based First Nations mother and grandmother are battling with the Department of Communities to win back custody of a baby boy.
The Department removed the child from his parents Claire* and Jack* after a family argument that erupted in January this year in a Wheatbelt town.
That same month, only two weeks before her son was removed, Claire lost a baby girl.
Claire told Ngaarda Media that a family member attacked her partner Jack during a family event in the Wheatbelt. After notifying the police of the incident, the parents made a dash to a Perth hospital for an urgent CT scan, leaving their baby with a responsible family member.
Alerting the police about the attack on Jack had the immediate result of the Department of Communities informing Claire that her baby boy could not be collected from the family member who had responsibility for his care during the funeral proceedings.
Her baby has been in the Department’s custody since January with Claire allowed three visits a week. Had the police not been alerted, the baby would not have been removed.
Claire and her mother see the situation as unfair at every turn.
The baby’s grandmother, Jane*, agreed to be the child’s carer in January but the Department did not progress the case to award care to Jane on the basis that she experienced an eviction because her landlords deemed her situation undesirable. She was caring for five children at the time to help family.
Following Jane’s eviction, she and daughter Claire moved into a house, but the Department has said that it would not allow the baby to be placed in Jane’s care while she and Claire share a house.
To make matters worse, Claire and Jane noticed the baby had scabies. They say the Department and the appointed carer disputed their diagnosis, saying it was nappy rash. When the baby was finally checked by a doctor, he was found to have scabies, with which he suffered for three weeks.
While both Claire and Jane have experienced alcohol problems, Jane has been deemed a responsible person who can care for her grandson, having given up alcohol many years ago.
“It’s alcohol or children, you can’t have both,” said Jane.
Four generations of the family have now been the subject of governmental child protection agency oversight.
Claire has complied with all testing, courses and counselling sessions required of her and has stayed out of trouble, determined to get her little boy returned to her care.
“The Department should investigate properly before they remove people’s children,” said Claire, who herself was removed from her family as a child and who ran away from foster care at age 12 because of abuse.
Claire now believes it would be best if the child goes to the Wheat Belt with an aunty, as her mother’s circumstances have changed, although Jane remains a potential carer.
Overall, Claire wants the child placed with family, and says the current carer is not at all closely related.
Claire told Ngaarda Media: “If this is not sorted soon, my son is going to know her family, and not his own”.
The case remains at a standstill and has not progressed since March when the women first contacted Ngaarda Media about their plight.
A spokesperson for the Department of Communities said that, for legal reasons, the Department could not comment on details of this case.
“The State Government is committed to providing a safe, supportive and stable environment for Western Australia’s most vulnerable children and young people,” the spokesperson said.
They said the Department was committed to the “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle”, set out in the Children and Community Services Act 2004, to ensure “Aboriginal children in care maintain close connection to family, culture and Country.”
“The Child Placement Principle describes a hierarchy that must be considered when determining a placement for a child which prioritises the child’s family and community, prior to other placement types,” they said.
“The safety and wellbeing of children is of paramount importance and Communities undertakes ongoing safety assessments of all carers, home environments and members of a household when assessment is being made.”
The spokesperson said that, as of 30 June, there were 3,068 Aboriginal children in state care.
*Not their real names. The family cannot be named for legal reasons.