Two sisters who sued the state of New South Wales for failing to protect them from their abusive stepfather have been awarded almost $1.5 million in damages after an eight-year battle for compensation.
The women, known as TB and DC, were repeatedly raped and indecently assaulted by their stepfather when they were children in the 1970s and 1980s.
The payout marks the end of a long legal battle for the sisters, which began in 2008 when they sued the state and their former community services case worker for negligence in the NSW Supreme Court.
They claimed that despite knowing about the abuse and documenting their complaints, both the Department of Community Services (DOCS) and the officer did not report it to the police. They alleged that had the abuse been reported, they would have been protected from further abuse.
The former case worker, Carolyn Quinn, is now a high-profile child protection consultant and a former member of the NSW Carers Advisory Council.
Last year, the sisters lost their initial claim, with Justice D ruling that while the department had failed in its duty of care to report the abuse, he did not accept that the abuse continued after DOCS was first notified in 1983.
Justice Campbell ruled Ms Quinn did not owe the girls a duty of care and even if she had, she had fulfilled that duty by reporting the abuse to her superiors.
Secret files show DoCS visits to at-risk kids have decreased
- Details
- Category: Child Protection NSW media and newspaper articles
- Created: Sunday, 09 January 2011 11:53
- Written by The Sunday Telegraph
A Community Services report stamped "Confidential - not for further distribution", leaked to The Sunday Telegraph, reveals the number of children at serious risk of harm who were visited by a caseworker dropped by 13 per cent in 2010.
It comes as a senior bureaucrat has authored a separate internal report which states caseworkers are not visiting children at risk of serious harm because of red tape and a fear of being blamed if the child is murdered.
Foster carer charged with assaulting kids
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- Category: Child Protection NSW media and newspaper articles
- Created: Friday, 17 January 2014 12:21
- Written by Herald Sun
A 77-YEAR-OLD foster carer on the NSW north coast has been arrested and charged with indecently assaulting three children in his care.
The man was arrested at his home in Lennox Head on Wednesday and is accused of indecently assaulting three children previously in his care between 2009 and 2011.
Foster carer arrested and charged for physically abusing children - near Newcastle
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- Category: Child Protection NSW media and newspaper articles
- Created: Monday, 13 January 2014 17:18
- Written by NSW Police Media Release
Child Abuse Squad detectives have arrested and charged a woman for physically assaulting three children in her care.
Last Friday (10 January 2014), police were informed that three children housed in foster care in the Lake Macquarie area were suffering from a number of physical injuries.
The children – two boys, aged 6 and 7, and a girl aged 5 – had obvious bruising on various parts of their bodies.
Woman jailed for brutally assaulting foster child after appearing in Parkes District Court
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- Category: Child Protection NSW media and newspaper articles
- Created: Friday, 27 October 2017 23:50
- Written by Parkes Champion Post
A 31-year-old Parkes woman was sentenced to seven years’ jail today in Parkes District Court after assaulting a five-year-old foster child in her care.
Brooke Roberts of Middleton Street, appeared before Judge Stephen Hanley on the charge of reckless grievous bodily harm, an offence that carries a maximum sentence of ten years.
Hunter New England FACS office fails to meet Children's Guardian accreditation standards for out of home care
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- Category: Child Protection NSW media and newspaper articles
- Created: Friday, 03 November 2017 12:12
- Written by Anita Beaumont - Newcastle Herald Sun
Six months: Hunter New England FACS office has an extended deadline to meet Children's Guardian accreditation standards or it will be stripped of its authority to oversee children in out of home care.
THE Hunter’s Family and Community Services (FACS) office could be stripped of its authority to oversee out of home care for at-risk children after failing to meet accreditation requirements.
The Hunter New England FACS district has been given a “six month lifeline” to meet the Office of Children’s Guardian standards or have its accreditation withdrawn.
More foster children adopted after government reforms, Pru Goward says
- Details
- Category: Child Protection NSW media and newspaper articles
- Created: Sunday, 02 July 2017 17:40
- Written by Han Nguyen - Essential Kids
For Meredith and Elliott Gordon, life has dramatically changed since welcoming their daughter, Kathleen, into the family.
The West Ryde couple first met their daughter when she was eight months old and came into their care as a foster child.
Last November, after caring for her for two years, they adopted Kathleen – a process that would have taken longer if it was not for reforms the NSW government introduced last year to encourage foster parents to adopt the children in their care.
THOUSANDS of children from troubled homes will be returned to their families under a Coalition Government.
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- Category: Child Protection NSW media and newspaper articles
- Created: Wednesday, 02 March 2011 22:52
- Written by Gemma Jones- Daily Telegraph
The Coalition plans to cap the removal of children for the next four years before DOCS would be asked to slash numbers by more than 20 per cent.
Under the plan, most of the more than 16,000 NSW children in foster care would be looked after by charities and the private sector.
Policy documents show the handover to the non-government sector would begin immediately if the Coalition wins the election.
The policy revelation came as the Coalition yesterday pledged a $120 million fighting fund for preventive health initiatives a day after The Daily Telegraph's People's Parliament unanimously voted for health policies to focus on prevention measures.
Liberal Community Services spokeswoman Pru Goward said that, despite fewer removals, children would be safer.
She said DOCS was now so overloaded it was failing.
Parents would be asked to enter contracts and prove they had combated problems such as drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence for a period of up to two years before their children could be returned.
A family preservation model would be adopted, with a focus on early intervention.
Foster crisis: Kids knowingly sent to carers with serious criminal charges
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- Category: Child Protection NSW media and newspaper articles
- Created: Sunday, 18 September 2016 16:22
- Written by Jane Hansen - News Limited
VULNERABLE foster children were placed in homes with carers who had serious criminal records, including rape, assault and drugs charges, with the full knowledge of the state government.
The Sunday Telegraph has obtained a leaked 2010 internal report that raises concerns with senior management in Family and Community Services (FACS) about five carers with serious criminal records.
One foster carer on the mid-north coast had an 18-page record, including two convictions for rape, three for assault, five for stealing, four for domestic violence and one of malicious wounding. The carer had done significant jail time.
The carer and his wife were paid $128,000 in foster payments each year to care for 10 children from 2005 onwards.
Man extradited from Qld to NSW over sickening sexual assault of 7yo girl
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- Category: Child Protection NSW media and newspaper articles
- Created: Tuesday, 17 January 2017 21:31
- Written by Shanee Dobson - MyGC.com.au
A man has been charged with several child sex offences following an ongoing investigation into the sexual assault of a 7-year-old girl in his care six years ago.
The 45-year-old man, who was wanted on a warrant over the alleged child assault, was arrested in Ipswich on unrelated matters last Friday and extradited back to NSW.
DOCS removed child by mistake
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- Category: Child Protection NSW media and newspaper articles
- Created: Sunday, 27 July 2014 18:34
- Written by ABC News
The State Opposition says mistakes made by the Department of Community Services over the removal of a young girl from her family should have been fixed earlier.
The Opposition's community services spokeswoman Pru Goward says a five year old girl was wrongly removed from her family and the mistake was only rectified after the intervention of the deputy ombudsman.
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