Kumanjayi Little Baby review finds ‘extensive failings’ as death prompts child protection reforms

A five-year-old girl’s alleged outback murder shocked the nation and has now prompted a system-wide reset of a territory’s child protection department.

The body of Kumanjayi Little Baby was found five days after she was allegedly abducted from Alice Springs’ Old Timers camp in April, sparking widespread outrage and vigils across Australia.

Jefferson Lewis, 47, has been charged with her murder and is awaiting trial.

An independent review prompted by the girl’s death has found “extensive failings” by the Northern Territory’s child protection department.

But to effectively protect vulnerable children, governments needed to address issues of poverty, inadequate housing and health care in remote communities, an Indigenous children’s advocacy group said.

The NT government initiated an independent review of its child protection department by former NSW police commissioner Karen Webb and longtime public servant Greg Shanahan.

The review, tabled in the NT parliament on Tuesday, found child protection officers repeatedly failed to adequately assess safety threats to Kumanjayi Little Baby and her family.

The government had accepted the review’s 45 recommendations in full to prompt “considerable structural reform” of the child protection system, NT Children and Families Minister Robyn Cahill told reporters on Tuesday.

She said the mistakes made were “unforgivable”, with a disconnect between what the legislation required officers to do and how the law was applied.

The minister said she had directed her department to audit safety frameworks and have all people involved in care assessed to make sure they would be safe around children.

“Anyone to be considered must have a working with children clearance which requires a national criminal history check,” she said.

The report recommends the department and NT Police boost information sharing to ensure child protection decisions are informed by knowledge of domestic violence incidents, breaches of orders and other relevant offending.

It said the department had received 14 notifications over six years about Kumanjayi Little Baby’s exposure to domestic and family violence, largely involving her father.

The offences included verbal and physical violence, breaches of domestic violence orders and coercive and controlling behaviour.

Ms Cahill said a domestic and family violence risk assessment was never done despite “the escalating pattern of violence that she was being exposed to”.

The review found Kumanjayi Little Baby’s mother was “effectively responsible for protecting her children while experiencing violence herself.”

Ms Webb and Mr Shanahan called for a “system-wide reset” of the department, saying it needed to move away from a predominantly reactive model of responding to notifications of harm.

The review must be a turning point for a government that had failed to address the systemic issues putting Aboriginal children at risk, a peak Indigenous children’s advocate said.

National Voice for Our Children chief executive Catherine Liddle said it was reassuring to hear Ms Cahill admit the NT’s child protection system had failed to keep children safe, something Indigenous advocates had been saying for years.

“Neglect and poverty put our children at greatest risk,’‘ she said.

“Until all governments seriously address these issues, our children will remain vulnerable.”

In July, the NT government passed child protection laws that explicitly state safety must be the top priority in child welfare decisions.

The reforms were criticised for placing less emphasis on maintaining cultural connection and potentially making it easier for Aboriginal kids to be placed with non-Indigenous carers.

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