In 2014 a 13-year-old girl from the Illawarra area died of asthma. She weighed 112 kilograms, had ADHD and Oppositional Defiance Disorder. Her family had been reported 19 times to the Family and Community Services Helpline – these calls had occurred since she was a one-year-old.
A baby.
The recent inquest findings detail the squalid conditions she lived in, every single day. When police were notified of her death the “foul odour” from the house caused them to retreat to their vehicles for protective masks. Her home was infested with mice and their droppings, she had worn the same clothes for months.
Her mother had mental health issues, her father had a hearing disability and they struggled with this young woman’s behavioural problems.
“All of these factors paint a picture of a family struggling to cope with day-to-day life,” . “This has been a very sad case.”
When I read about this girl and her “clearly preventable death” I cried and I’m not a big crier. Why? Her family had failed her, the system had failed her and the community had failed her – we had all failed her.
I could picture her getting on the school bus in the morning, her seriously overweight body in soiled clothes wheezing away with her chronic asthma and puffers, sitting by herself. An odd girl who smelled bad and whose behaviour was unpredictable. There would have been whispers about her, about her family, she would have been noticed – there’s no way she couldn’t have been.
We should all feel the burden of this young woman’s death. Isn’t it our duty to protect those who are unable to protect themselves, especially a child?
Education around the girls chronic asthma condition were unsuccessful as was her poor hygiene and Coroner Beattie explained that the family’s case was closed by Family and Community Services in 2013 because of “limited resources being stretched to the limit”.
“While [the girl] was undoubtedly loved and is mourned by her family,” said the Coroner. “It is clear that they had limited personal resources to look after her physically and emotionally particularly as her complex needs increased and her behaviour deteriorated.”
Yes, the levels of failure in this case are extraordinary – not just by the authorities, but by the people who had contact with her and her family every day. Let us all look into the mirror of this heartbreaking incident and stop it from happening again. Instead of ignoring a hunch that a child or family isn’t coping we must take steps out of our comfort zone.
We need to ask questions. Follow up on those questions. We need to alert the correct government departments, schools and teachers, and follow up with them. We need to show empathy and sympathy, instead of whispers and a cold shoulder. We need to rally together, we need to be human because this 13-year-old was human too. She was a little girl, who should have had the opportunity to see in her lifetime and experience first hand that people are good and that people cared.
Top Comments
How much are we spending on resettling refugees and yet not a single lousy dollar could be found helping her and her family.
Yes, how much is being spent on keeping men, women and children in off shore prison camps in inhumane conditions…a hell of a lot more than if we resettled asylum seekers in our communities, if that is where you are going with that.
The reason why this girl and her family haven't been helped is because those of us with wealth, health, education and all other manor of privilege seem to have a hard time at helping (or voting in government that help) those in need. We are all too worried about what's in it for us and that we will be worse (ripped) off if we dare to be generous. It's getting worse and worse...
We should be able to help our homeless and help refugees. Pitting desperate people against each other helps no one and only helping people based on which patch of dirt they happened to be born on only hurts the entire planet, of which Australia is a part of.
Well to be fair to Guest, considering that some of those refugees Australia has resettled here at cost to us taxpayers have gone on to commit terrorist offences he/she does have a valid point. No pitting that I can see just a question. Where is the money being spent? Certainly not on those in need in Australia it seems.
What refugee has gone onto commit terrorist offenses? And don't say Man Haron Monis. He did not come from a camp, he was a political refugee that applied to the government for asylum, after coming here on a business visa and was not properly checked up on and monitored. Plenty of people had rung the terrorist hotline about this man and no one acted. The authorities failed us, not all the refugees who are fleeing war zones and need our help.
One refugee as opposed to how many who live law abiding lives? How many refugees do you actually know? I'm betting none.
And, there was money being spent on the homeless, until the government cut spending. Plus, it costs more to keep these people off shore in the camps than it does to resettle them in Australia.
I'd ask you and guest, what have you done to help the homeless lately?
Guest does not have a vaild point, and neither do you, because you are ignorant to the facts.
We have lost our community- my mum would often meet these sort of people and instead of ringing family services she would boring them, help them cleaning their house, offer support after school, offer friendship which helps confidences and functionality. I met some very weird people,growing up but I learnt how to treat people and work with people like this everyday, kindness not judgement people goes along way in helping. Prevent people falling through the cracks.