Any situation of endemic parental neglect or domestic abuse is considered by many to be a cause for community concern.  Often child neglect is a symptom of more serious underlying home and family issues such as unemployment, racism and poverty. By extension, the role of the community in monitoring the social, psychological and emotional needs of children may mean that a situation of prolonged neglect can be seen as a community failure.  That is, a failure to support the parents, to notice the warning signs, to monitor the situation and to take prompt action to protect the child.

Tragically, the death of a young girl in NSW from an asthma attack despite her persistent pleas for help, raises confronting questions about who is responsible for helping to protect children who are the victims of neglect.

The facts

A 13-year-old girl, known as Elle for the purposes of media reporting, was pronounced dead after suffering an asthma attack in her home in 2014. At the time of her death, Elle weighed over 100kg, well within the category of extreme obesity, and had apparently called authorities and begged someone to help clean her public housing home in Illawarra just months before her death.

Elle was living in an allegedly rodent and mould-infested house, with the property so overrun with pests that the animals had chewed holes through the walls and ceiling. Evidence suggests that the appalling living conditions contributed to her death by over-exposure to allergens.

NSW Housing had allegedly ordered the parents on multiple occasions to clean up the house in the months leading up to her death. The previous day, her parents had returned home to find her crying for her asthma puffer, and she begged to be taken to hospital a few hours later but no action was taken. She was found slumped over in the lounge room the next morning.

A coronial inquest into Elle’s death heard evidence that she would still be alive today had she been taken to hospital. Further, 19 reports of abuse had been filed over the course of her life, with Family and Community Services (FACS) failing to ‘intervene in any meaningful way’. Of the 19 reports, 5 of them were closed due to ‘competing priorities’ of the Department.

A spokesman for FACS stated that the Department has since strengthened their responses to situations of ‘chronic and medical neglect’ and has provided specific training in child neglect to staff.

The context

Sadly, this incident of child neglect is not unique, nor even localised to NSW. Evidence also suggests that reduced expenditure in South Australia on child protection investigations – in particular the notification of suspected abuse or neglect – may be causing more situations of abuse and neglect to remain undetected. The Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services shows that one in five children have been found to have been neglected/abused even after previous warnings have been dismissed. Furthermore, over 14,000 calls to the Child Abuse Report Line (or 42% of total calls) went unanswered over a six-month period.

Additionally, a Brisbane Family Court judge has made strong comments in a recent judgment that too many ‘at risk’ children are remaining in unsuitable households until something really serious occurs.   She found it extraordinary that Queensland Child Safety had decided not to intervene after a young girl frequently arrived at school upset, unkempt, unfed and with little food, with other evidence suggesting her mother was using marijuana and alcohol. Despite the department reasoning that there was ‘no previous child protection history’ concerning the child or her parents, evidence suggested that children had been removed from the mother in other states and the father had been the subject of three police complaints for alleged sexual interest in children.

The law surrounding child ‘neglect’

The media responsibility for these statistics and reported incidents is placed squarely on the government and authorities of the relevant legal system.

However, if we consider that neglect is ultimately a community issue and that legal developments have effectively turned schools and their teachers into ‘child protection watchdogs’, then it is logical to ask 'did the members of Elle's school community notice anything'? Given our knowledge of schools and the efforts that they make in caring for children, the answer is most probably 'yes' they did notice her distress and 'yes' they probably did report it just as the school in Queensland had made reports to Queensland Child Safety.

While the media did not report if Elle's school was aware of her condition or raised concerns with FACS, this tragic incident reminds us all, especially schools, that child neglect is also a form of a child abuse which must be reported to authorities.

What is neglect?

In every state and territory across Australia, neglect is either recognised as a type of child abuse (Victoria), or it is placed on equal footing as a criminal offence as something which causes harm or undermines the safety, welfare or wellbeing of a child (NSW and WA). In South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT, the terms ‘abuse’ and ‘neglect’ are combined and are considered to have corresponding meaning. While in the Northern Territory and Queensland both are defined as ways of causing harm to a child.

This Tasmanian fact sheet Neglect is Child Abuse provides this useful information:

What specifically constitutes neglect varies between jurisdictions. While neglect is synonymous with abuse in Queensland, the term ‘neglect’ is not actually defined. This is also the situation in Victoria, despite ‘serious neglect’ being a form of child abuse.

In Western Australia, neglect includes a failure by a child’s parents to provide, arrange or allow for the provision of adequate care or effective treatment for the child. In the ACT, neglect is a failure to provide a ‘necessity of life’, including food, shelter and clothing; in NSW, where Elle lived, a similar definition is employed.

In Elle's case, the indicators of neglect within her home were clear.  However, would people in the school community have recognised indicators while she was at school?

Possible indicators of serious neglect that could be identified within a school environment include a child being:

• consistently dirty and unwashed;

• low weight for age and/or failure to thrive and develop; or

• consistently hungry, tired and listless, falling asleep in class, or malnourished.

Sadly, in Elle's case, her weight might have been a reason why others did not think that anything was wrong.

Does neglect need to be reported?

Statutory reporting and notification obligations concerning child neglect or abuse are inconsistent between jurisdictions, effectively creating different hierarchies of responsibility for schools and teachers depending on their location.  In general, mandatory reporting obligations are triggered by sexual or physical abuse and not by neglect.

In South Australia, certain individuals have a mandatory obligation to notify the Department of Child Protection of all suspected cases of child abuse or neglect arising within their professional context. Mandated notifiers include any person employed in a non-government organisation providing education to children or having direct responsibility for supervision/management of children - this would cover any staff or member of the school leadership team.

There is an equivalent obligation in NSW (where this incident took place) to report to the FACS but only where there is suspicion of the child being at risk of significant harm.

This responsibility is even broader in Tasmania, where any adult who knows or reasonably suspects a child is suffering or likely to suffer abuse or neglect must take steps to prevent it. Further, principals and teachers are ‘prescribed persons’ who must notify the Secretary of the Department of Community and Health Services, or a Community-Based Intake Service, if they suspect a child is being, or will be, abused or neglected.

An equivalent obligation exists in the Northern Territory through the obligation of any adult to report to the Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Territory Families or a police officer any knowledge or reasonable belief of a child experiencing harm or exploitation.

In the ACT and Victoria, a teacher or other staff member concerned with the health and wellbeing of students is required to make a report if they believe a child has experienced or is experiencing sexual or physical abuse, but not any other form of child abuse. A similarly limited obligation exists in Queensland, where a ‘reportable suspicion’ is limited to significant harm caused by physical or sexual abuse. In WA, there is only a mandatory obligation in respect of suspected sexual abuse.

What should schools do?

Even without legislative obligations in relation to reporting neglect, schools and their staff owe a duty of care to all of their students to ensure they feel safe and supported in the educational environment. As prominent members of the community, a failure to expose prolonged child abuse and neglect may also be a failure of a school to notice the warning signs and take necessary protective steps to safeguard the child.

Hence the safest way for a school to ensure that it meets any and all legal obligations and, above all, to preserve the safety of students, is to take appropriate and prompt action in response to all allegations or disclosures of abuse, neglect or inappropriate behaviour.

How does your school respond to allegations or suspicions of student neglect?