This WA girl was known to child protection at six weeks old. She killed herself at 14
Warning: This story contains graphic content.
The numbers are thought-provoking.
By the age of 14, a teenage Perth girl was living in four group homes, hospitalized three times for threatening to kill herself and juggling 70 Department of Communities care arrangements; He did all of this before he died by suicide in April 2022.
A coroner’s inquest is examining whether more could have been done to help a young girl who died by suicide after a life spent in the care of the Department for Communities.Credit: Photo/John Donegan
The coroner’s inquest is now examining the circumstances surrounding the teenager’s death in a bid to identify missed opportunities that could have saved her life.
The girl, known only as “Child RK”, came to the department’s attention when she was just six weeks old, the coroner’s court was told on Wednesday.
He was the eldest of four siblings on his mother’s side and had undergone “several” child safety interventions before being taken into care at the age of four after it became apparent he was being neglected.
The girl visited her mother regularly until she was seven but had to cut off contact when an “incident” occurred, the court heard.
She bounced between foster carers and eventually endured 70 care arrangements and more than 80 counseling sessions during her short life.
Two foster carers had thought the girl was too difficult to look after and Daniel McDonald, the barrister assisting the coroner, told the inquest on Wednesday that she had become increasingly violent and volatile over time.
