EXCLUSIVE: Child Protection Minister silent as bullying, blind eyes continue at Communities
6PR Mornings continues its ongoing quest for Child Protection Minister Simone McGurk (above) to come on the show to discuss dysfunction at the Department of Communities, with two more foster carers coming forward to lift the lid on ineptness there.
WA Premier Mark McGowan declined to speak on the matter, while Ms McGurk’s office said: “Thanks for reaching out. The Minister won’t be taking you up on this right now, but appreciate the offer.”
In the ongoing investigation, Liam Bartlett talks to Katie, who with her husband have been foster carers for more than 15 years. A few weeks ago, Katie was pushed to the brink when two children in her care – aged one and 18 months old – since birth, raised concerns that potential a foster home for these kids had drugs and domestic abuse attached to them.
“We were told we were too emotionally attached to these children,” Katie said when asked what Communities said in response to her concerns.
“It got to the point where we were at complete breaking point. We went through all our case workers all the way up to the director-general, and constantly told we were too attached or don’t understand Aboriginal culture.
“The Minister refused to talk to us… we got an email back saying we need to go internal, but we went all the way to the top there. We have reached out, to the point where we got no response to any of our emails.”
Sandra had worked for DCP for six years and became a foster carer after.
As of last week that is no longer the case, after she spoke out, saying she had been broken by the system. She lost her career, her car, and her mental health after she said Communities was unhappy she had spoken to WAtoday about some of the issues there.
“They’ve said to me they have wellbeing concerns for my 15-year-old … and that she was leaving my care immediately,” she said.
“They’ve threatened me with jail, fines, I’ve lost my career. I think the culture is terrible, it needs to be structured from the top down. I think Minister McGurk knows what’s going on … it’s not been addressed at all.”
Tap PLAY below to hear more on the Communities crisis from both women.
Image: Child Protection Minister Simone McGurk.