Vic: Child protection chief defends DHS

AAP General News (Australia)
08-03-2009
Vic: Child protection chief defends DHS

MELBOURNE, Aug 3 AAP - Victoria's child protection chief has defended departmental
methods following the bashing death of a toddler.

Police late on Sunday confirmed the two-year-old girl had died earlier that day at
Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital after she was admitted on July 7 with critical brain
injuries from an attack at her home in the state's west.

Child Safety Commissioner Bernie Geary said his office would investigate how the Department
of Human Services (DHS) had impacted on the toddler's life and her family.

"I don't know that old methods aren't working," he told ABC Radio on Monday.

"There is an army of people out there, whether they be professional or voluntary ...

who work very hard with these children who are on the margins and there's some wonderful
work that's done.

"Unfortunately, as we experience here, sometimes children are harmed or die and when
that happens we take it to the nth degree."

Mr Geary will hand his findings to the Victorian Child Death Review Committee, an advisory
body comprised of experts in areas such as paediatrics, drugs and alcohol, and mental
health.

The committee will deliver a report to Community Services Minister Lisa Neville.

The committee publishes details of inquiries into the deaths of children known to child
protection in its annual report, which is tabled in parliament.

Only days before the fatal assault the girl was sent to child care with what looked
to be black eyes.

Childcare workers raised concerns with DHS welfare officers, who visited her home,
but she was allowed to stay there.

Her 26-year-old father had been charged over her injuries but was found dead days before
he was due to face court.

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.

AAP mj/gfr/cdh/jfm

KEYWORD: TODDLER GEARY

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