A coronial inquest has been told the mother of an 11-week-old baby who died in squalor was not engaging with support services — but child protection authorities failed to act on reports about the case.
The baby's mother — who cannot be identified for legal reasons — either cancelled or did not show up for 13 out of 15 scheduled appointments with a community service provider in the months before her baby's death.
The infant was found cold and unresponsive in November 2018 on a fold-out couch he was sleeping on with his then 18-year-old mother, two older siblings and another teenager.
The coronial inquest into his death heard the Department for Child Protection (DCP) referred the young mother to the regional service provider, for support with her parenting and hygiene skills.
DCP closed its own case file on the family "under the condition" the mother engage with the support service.
But the mother's assigned case manager with that service, Rachel Mayfield, told the inquest she did not engage and that DCP knew.
Ms Mayfield said she emailed the department in August to advise them the mother had not been "actively engaging in home visits".
"I didn't receive a response from DCP for that email," she told the inquest.
Ms Mayfield told the inquest she had only been allowed inside the family home once before the baby was born and observed rubbish on the floor, no bedding on any of the beds with the family sleeping on a fold-out couch in the living room.
She said the front yard of the housing trust property was also full of rubbish.
Video filmed by police showing the interior of the house shortly after the baby's death has been tendered to the inquest.
'Concerned for the children's safety'
Ms Mayfield said she had no statutory authority to enter the family home without permission and her only option was to report her concerns to DCP through a child protection notification, which she did.
Ten days before the baby's death Ms Mayfield said she still had not been able to enter the family home and made a mandatory child protection notification that the baby's mother was not engaging.
"I also advised that [the mother] had reported she suffers mental health and was unmedicated and previously advised me that she disengages when she isn't travelling well with her mental health," she said.
"I was concerned that there had been a number of times where she had cancelled and not wanted us to visit.
"A reluctance to let me in and knowing that she had small children worried me.
"I was concerned for the children's safety and wellbeing and that's the purpose of making a child abuse notification if you have suspicion that there's harm to the children."
Ms Mayfield told the inquest she would have expected a return call from the department and there was nothing more she could have done to escalate her concerns.
She told the inquest she never heard back.
The inquest has previously heard the department did not take any action because the regional office "had no capacity to deal with the notification".
A total of 23 notifications had been made to DCP about the boy and his older siblings over three years.
The inquest has previously heard the boy died in a house with soiled nappies, food scraps and cat faeces on the floor, vomit on bedding and dead flies and cockroaches in the kitchen.
There was no food in the house and mouldy baby bottles contained curdled liquid.
Ms Mayfield told the inquest the boy's mother re-engaged with the service last year and that the organisation she works for now has other avenues to escalate their concerns to DCP that were not available in 2018.
The inquest before state coroner David Whittle continues.
