Kumanjayi Little Baby review finds extensive failings

Northern Territory child protection sector faces widespread criticism after report reveals extensive failings in lead-up to Kumanjayi Little Baby's death.

The full report

A report on the Northern Territory's child protection sector has detailed 'confronting' and 'heartbreaking' failures in the lead-up to the alleged murder of Warlpiri girl Kumanjayi Little Baby. The five-year-old was found dead in April, five days after she was allegedly abducted from a town camp in Alice Springs. Police then charged Jefferson Lewis, a 47-year-old man who was not a member of the child's family or known to her mother, with murder. He has been remanded in custody and is yet to enter a plea. The minister for children and families, Robyn Cahill, tabled the report in NT parliament on Tuesday. The NT government commissioned the independent review, conducted by former New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb and senior public servant Greg Shanahan, in the wake of the child's death. The report identified a number of priorities, including strengthening the child protection practice framework and its intersection with domestic and family violence, risk assessments and safety planning – including adequately assessing the suitability of adults to become carers.

The report found that Kumanjayi Little Baby's family had been known to the Department of Children and Families (DCF) since her mother was pregnant with her. While the report states there were 14 notifications over six years about the little girl's exposure to domestic and family violence, Ms Cahill told parliament that in Kumanjayi's 'five short years, the department received 16 notifications involving her; two of those occurred whilst her mother was pregnant with her'. They 'predominantly' involved Kumanjayi Little Baby's father, the report says, covering verbal and physical violence, breaches of domestic violence orders, and coercive and controlling behaviour against her mother.

The review found no evidence that police or background checks were done on any of the adults who were relied upon to keep Kumanjayi Little Baby safe. It was later established that one of those adults had a long and violent criminal history, including five counts of threat-to-kill. The report made 45 recommendations, which have been accepted in full. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the image of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of her family.

The report calls for a 'system-wide reset' of the department's function, with a focus on strengthening the child protection practice framework and its intersection with domestic and family violence. The NT government has announced sweeping reforms of the child protection sector in May, just days after the Warlpiri girl was found dead. The minister for children and families, Robyn Cahill, said the report showed a 'recurrent pattern' of how police worked alongside the department, which allowed children to be placed in the care of adults without a criminal background check.