A child safety officer incorrectly assessed Elizabeth Struhs as “safe” one day after she arrived at hospital in a coma and nearly died due to the neglect of her parents, a coroner’s court has heard. A Queensland coronial inquest heard evidence on Tuesday from one of the two child safety officers who ultimately decided to return the then six-year-old type 1 diabetic to the care of her parents at their home in Toowoomba. She died there on 7 Jan 2022 while her mother, Kerrie, father Jason and other members of their small religious sect prayed for her miraculous healing or resurrection.
None of the witnesses can be identified for legal reasons. The child safety officer was given the duty of investigating Elizabeth’s home after she presented to Toowoomba hospital in a coma suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis on 17 July 2019. He later became her case worker.
Just one day later – after she was transferred to the Queensland children’s hospital in Brisbane – another child safety officer who assisted him completed an initial safety assessment of Elizabeth. But her colleague told the court on Wednesday that Elizabeth should have been recorded as “unsafe” because they didn’t have enough information about her circumstances at the time. Elizabeth was later assessed as a child in need of protection, a legal standard under the child safety act.
In 2021, both Jason and Kerrie were convicted of not providing the necessaries of life to their daughter as a result of the 2019 incident, and Kerrie jailed. The child safety officer later had a conversation with a doctor from the Queensland children’s hospital who told him Elizabeth was lucky not to have died and that Kerrie had not shown remorse as a result of the incident. The doctor said Kerrie continued to not believe in medicine and that it would be unsafe for her daughter to live with her until she changed her views, the inquest heard.
The doctor told the court on Monday that she felt “stonewalled” by the officer after raising concerns about Elizabeth’s safety at home. Elizabeth was ultimately returned home to live with her family, with an intervention parental agreement: a short-term, voluntary arrangement that allows child safety authorities to aid a child in danger without a child protection order, the inquest heard. On Wednesday, the child safety officer said that the safety plan they adopted for Elizabeth “in hindsight, could have been more robust”.
But he said he didn’t have a clear recollection of a meeting in which they discussed the idea of adopting the plan. He said it was a difficult decision and that there were practical considerations of how to manage the complex case. The child safety officer said it was significant that Jason had repeatedly committed to provide insulin for his daughter.
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