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(from the West Australian - Agenda (thewest.com.au) - by Andrea Mayes

Children caught in the middle - A single mother faces losing custody of her children until they reach 18.

Few West Australians could forget the tragic death of baby Wade Scale and the 2006 coronial findings that launched a sustained public attack on what was then the Department of Community Development.

The 11-month-old was found dead in a bath with adult prescription drugs in his system and the Coroner was highly critical of the department, which had ignored warnings from the baby's grandmother about the dangers of leaving the baby in his parents' care.

The coronial report led to the resignation of the head of the DCD, a truckload of money being thrown a the department, and ultimately its division into the Department for Child Protection and the Department for Communities.

It also played a part in the massive increase in children being removed from their parents' care in 2006-07 (1057 compared with 748 taken the previous year).

The numbers have since eased, to 962 in 2007-08 and 884 in 2008-09.

Three of the children included in the statistics at various times since 2006 are the offspring of a single mother who is now fighting the department's first Supreme Court application for an order to have custody of the children until they reach the age of 18. Her youngest children, now aged three and six, have been removed from her care three times, most recently in June last year.

Her eldest child, now aged 11, has been removed twice and has not been in his mother's custody since November 2008.

The woman, who cannot be identified, claims she has been victimised by the department because she is outspoken and refuses to take things lying down.

She says her troubles began when various hospitals failed to diagnose a serious head injury to her second child that arose from a car accident.

In repeatedly trying to seek treatment for him, she says she upset various authorities, including social workers, who subsequently complained about her to the DCP, leading to her children being taken from her for 17 days in December 2006.

Her youngest child was just six weeks old at the time.

The mother herself was held as an involuntary patient at Graylands Hospital for a week during this time and discharged after a psychiatrist reported she suffered no major mental illness.

Since then, the woman has been engaged in various battles with the DCP concerning her children.

The department believes the mother is not mentally fit to care for the children.

A spokesman told The West Australian in a written statement "judicial proceedings indicated that on all the evidence, (the mother) was found to not have any significant period of stable psychological functioning in the future, and that it is unlikely that she can be successfully treated."

He said the DCP believed the children were "in need of care and protection until the age of 18", based on the conclusions of the magistrate who granted a two-year protection order in December last year, and may be at risk of abuse if returned to their mother.

"It should be noted that common themes through the judicial process included the fact that children had suffered harm, were exposed to physical, emotional and psychological abuse, and may continue to suffer these forms of abuse should they remain in the care of (the mother)," the spokesman said.

The mother vehemently denies these claims and says the department is trying to label her extreme grief and trauma - caused by the loss of the children - as mental illness.

Her supporters say she is a good parent and are outraged she faces losing her children until they reach adulthood.

Pastor Dennis Doust, of the Beldon Uniting Church where the woman is a member, said he could not understand why the children had been taken.

"There is no doubt at all that she has been badly traumatised by having the children removed from her, but her parenting skills are excellent and I can't see any reason why she should not be allowed to have them," he said.

He said she had a strong support network of friends, parishioners and community welfare organisations behind her.

"The general attitude of DCP I have witnessed has been aggressive and not in any way conciliatory or working with her or the community to reunite her with the children," Pastor Doust said.

"They have been more concerned about building a case against (the mother) than they have about reuniting the family."

Another member of the church community has known the family for two years. "She is a mother who loves her children, and the children love her," he said.

"It's beyond belief. The oldest child has been in at least 10 foster homes and that can't be good."

Psychologist Maria Harries also believes the woman is a good parent and sees no reason for her children to have been removed from her.

She had spent time with her when she still had custody of the children and had not seen anything to suggest she was not capable of looking after thm.

The woman admits she suffers post-traumatic stress disorder, but says this is a direct result of the trauma she has experienced by having her children taken from her.

Psychologist Doug Brewer, who is treating her, agrees.

He said the removal of the woman's children was "a grave injustice" - but taking them until they turned 18 was even worse.

"I think that what's happened is that she is a person who stands up for what she believes is right and won't take things lying down, and because of that she can rub people up the wrong way," he said.

"That has led to people writing adverse reports about her which ultimately has led to her children being taken away."

Mr Brewer said it appeared a DCP-appointed psychologist had diagnosed a personality disorder that gave the department grounds to take the children.

"That is completely unjustified, particularly when she now faces losing the children forever," he said.

DCP admits it is not trying to reunify the family.

"[The mother] refuses to work with the department," the spokesman said.

"She has not demonstrated any significant positive changes in her behaviours or desire to make changes."

Meanwhile, the woman is also facing a charge of attempted child stealing after allegedly trying to kidnap her eldest child from school, a charge she denies.

She has also lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court against last year's decision by the Children's Court to grant a two-year protection order for the children to DCP.

Supreme Court legal proceedings have also been launched in a bid to have the woman declared in need of a guardian on mental health grounds.

These cases - and the DCP's bid to retain custody of the children until they are 18 - are expected to be heard in the coming months.

Kids in care hit 950 - by Anthony Deceglie, Health Reporter, from the Sunday Times, 18.4.2010

The number of very young children removed from bad parents in WA has doubled in the past five years to almost 1000.

There are 950 children under the age of five in the care of the WA Government because of abusive or neglectful parents. In 2005 there were 500.

Child Protection Minister Robyn McSweeney said the figures, supplied by the Department of Child Protection, revealed the extent of WA's child-abuse crisis.

"We do have a really high percentage of children under th eage of two and under the age of five (in care)," she told The Sunday Times. "The reason for that is that those children are very, very vulnerable. They are taken into care for a variety of reasons but, a lot of the time, it's for neglect and obviously sexual, physical and emotional abuse."

Adults Surviving Child Abuse chairwoman Cathy Kezelman said the first three years of a child's life were the most critical - but effects from abuse lasted a life-time.

"We know that children who are abused find it much harder to complete an education, form relationships and find a proper job later in life," Dr Kezelman said.

"There are also major mental health issues such as depression and anxiety that can scar them for ever."

Dr Kezelman said the startling WA figures were a wake-up call for governments to act.

"What is obvious is that the childhood abuse issue isn't getting any better," she said. "There are far too many young children suffering abuse and neglect. Our society has been very reluctant to accept this fact - and that the majority of abuse occurs in the home by family members."

Ms McSweeney said her department was working on a range of initiatives to combat child abuse.

A parenting program, in which troubled families were visited in their homes by support workers for up to a year, would be expanded. Parents who refused to particupate could be court-ordered to do so.

"Family service hubs" run by a non-government organisation would be trialled this year and would offer parents a "one-stop shop" for advice and counselling on how to raise their children.

In another scheme, older children would be placed in residential homes under 24-hour supervision rather than dumped in mass hostels.

"The department buys a four-bedroom house on a little bit of land - we then put four kids in there aged between 12 and 17," Ms McSweeney said. "These are children who have some challenges and for some reason don't fit into the mould with foster care in homes. These homes allow us to integrate them back into society and let them become part of the community again."

The government has already bought 14 homes across the metropolitan area under the scheme.

Dr Kezelman called on the government for more support for adults sho have survived childhood abuse.

"Our organisation doesn't receive any ongoing government funding at all," she said. "This year we've had to stop running our workshops for adult survivors which can be life-affirming and even life-saving."