Mother's life of drugs dooms children
24.05.2004
Tony Koch reports on one woman's long battle with bureaucracy to save her grandson.
LIKE any loving mother, the woman wanted her daughter to to lead a normal, happy life.
But the seduction of the nightclub scene changed that, and by 16 her academically clever daughter had begun using drugs.
Now 30, the daughter works as a prostitute to get money for her habit and her children.
``Her first son was born in 1995 in NSW,'' the grandmother said. ``When he was three months old, he was left with his father. His mother was right into drugs and prostitution and I raised concerns with the Families Department.
``I told them how she would travel by bus to Coffs Harbour to work at a brothel and leave the baby with the receptionist. They did nothing about that dreadful situation.''
Two years later the daughter's second son was born, allegedly as a result of a rape by a minor. Families sent the mother and babies to Riverton Mothercraft home at Clayfield for guidance. This baby suffered a broken leg, almost certainly caused by abuse.
The woman went to Darwin and often left the two babies beside a pool while she entertained clients in their hotel rooms.
``In August 2000, I was present when the third baby was born,'' the grandmother said. ``His father was a one-night-stand heroin addict. Concern was expressed about the size of the fetus. She was still using drugs and cigarettes.
``That baby was born at midnight and my daughter checked out of hospital next morning.
``I did not see her or the children until December when her friend phoned to say the baby was in hospital. A team of doctors tried to establish what his problems were. A tethered spinal cord was one diagnosis. She was living with the children at Ronald McDonald House because they had no other accommodation.
``She was still using (drugs) and was totally unpredictable and erratic. I had huge concerns for all the children. I stressed to (social workers) that if they discharged the baby, she would disappear. They did and within days she shot through.
``In February 2001 she was living in a house with another druggie, the children and a couple of dogs. This house was complete with a hydroponic dope-growing room, and neither of the older boys was ever even enrolled at pre-school.
``And then on this Sunday morning, she phoned to say my youngest grandson was dead.
``The three children had been sleeping on one urine-soaked mattress without bedclothes. It appears that the oldest woke early and noticed the baby was cold. He got the nearest thing he could find to a blanket -- a filthy papasan cushion and placed it over his brothers and himself.
``His mother has since accused him of killing his brother.
``When I arrived there about three hours later I was totally disgusted with the filth and stench. There were no clean clothes. The rest of the week until the funeral was a nightmare.''
The grandmother said her daughter and partner were using drugs that week.
``Families officers and police visited and the cause of death was put down to SIDs. She was oblivious to the needs of the children. I took her to St Vinnie's to get clothes for them to wear and for the baby to be buried in.
``The baby's father had never seen him alive, but she told him of the death on the morning of the funeral. He visited and they shot up. Thirty minutes before the funeral was to begin, she and her current man were sitting in their underwear on a bed, popping pills. ``I continually liaised with Families Department during this time and they said that things couldn't continue and they were taking the kids. They didn't!
``A few days after the funeral my daughter and her man, the kids and dogs headed interstate. ``She was evicted from several refuges, so they put them on a bus back to Queensland where the second boy's father had obtained a Family Court order. Federal police met the bus and that boy continues to thrive with his father.
``In July 2002 I received a call from the school to say my grandson had come to school dirty, no jumper, no shoes, no food and upset because he couldn't wake mummy. I was listed as the emergency contact. I went to Families before going to her place and insisted on them taking action. They said they would as soon as they could get the exact number of her flat. They didn't do anything.
``In mid-2003, I received information that things were not good with my daughter and I again called Families. I have lost count of the number of times I have called and/or written to the minister, the director-general and the regional manager in the past seven years. I am unable to understand how this has gone on for so long.''
The grandmother's first break came when she told her story to her MP, now Indigenous Affairs Minister Liddy Clark, who put her in touch with then families minister Judy Spence.
``Liddy has been wonderful and told me to contact her whenever if I could not get the bureaucracy to act,'' she said.
``Sure enough, on the next Friday night I got a call to say my daughter had gone berserk, smashed furniture and walls, assaulted her partner, and was screaming as she walked down the road with the two boys, clutching a box which contained the ashes of her dead baby.
``I rang Crisis Care. They told me they didn't have staff at night on the Gold Coast and they couldn't act until Monday. I took a friend with me to my daughter's house and there was filth in every room. Fits and sharps containers were in three bedrooms.
``I grabbed my grandson and took him in my car back to Brisbane. I have had him with me since that night -- August 22 last year. The Families Department has at last taken out a court assessment order. Why has it taken seven years of persistent nagging from me to get protection for this innocent child?
``The policy of keeping the family intact is commendable. But it is not sensible to have birth-parent contact in a toxic situation like my grandchildren have been caught in.
``This lovely, sensitive boy was never parented. He was raised by a television set. He couldn't sit at a table to eat. He didn't know how to play with toys. It broke my heart when he came home with me, and he just looked at me and said he did not know how to smile.''
A GRANDMOTHER'S ORDEAL
Recollections of tragedy
"His mother was right into drugs and prostitution and I raised my concerns with the Families Department. I told them how she would travel by bus to Coffs Harbour to work at a brothel and leave the baby with the receptionist. They did nothing about that dreadful situation."
"In February 2001 she was living in a house with another druggie, the children and a couple of dogs. This house was complete with a hydroponic dope-growing room, and neither of the older boys was ever even enrolled at pre-school.
"The three children had been sleeping on one urine-soaked mattress without bedclothes. It appears that the oldest woke early and noticed that the baby was cold. He got the nearest thing he could find to a blanket - a filthy papasan cushion and placed it over his brothers and himself." His mother has since accused him of killing his brother.
"I have lost count of the number of times I have called and/or written to the minister, the director-general and the regional manager in the past seven years. I am unable to understand how this has gone on for so long."
Betrayal of trust
Extract from Families legal advice as it sought to deal with the revelation that one of its officers had identified the grandmother as the source of a child abuse notification against her daughter.
