A 10-year-old First Nations boy has died in an apparent suicide in state care in Western Australia, advocates for the family say.
Advocates for the family say the boy, who cannot be named, took his own life on Friday night, leaving his family “devastated” and triggering a coronial inquiry.
Megan Krakouer, director of the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project, said the family had other children in state care and had been trying for months to have them brought home. They had been promised overnight stays and unsupervised visits, but it didn’t happen.
She told ABC’s Radio National that the boy’s death was “a grave and inhumane fail”.
A department of communities spokesperson said the safety and wellbeing of children was always the department’s “highest priority”.
“The death of any child or young person is a tragedy, which has a devastating impact on the families, friends and communities involved,” the spokesperson said.
“In keeping with its legal and ethical obligations, [the department of] communities does not comment on individual cases, particularly where there is potential or evident risk of identifying one or more children in care.
“Any death of a child in care automatically triggers a Coronial Inquest and we support all matters of this nature being investigated.”
WA police said the death was not being treated as suspicious and that a report would be prepared for the coroner.
Krakouer described the parents as a strong, kind and solid couple and blamed poverty for the children’s removal. While there had been drug and alcohol issues, they had passed every test in the past year, she said.
She said the “state have failed in their responsibility to care for this young 10-year-old boy”, whom she described as “beautiful” with an “angelic face”.
Krakouer called for more support for families, a public register of deaths and self harm, and for the immediate return of the other children.
“They want their children back. And not in a box,” she said.
Gerry Georgatos, a social justice and human rights campaigner, has been helping the family. He said they were “devastated” and that their year of clean tests was a “powerful protective factor”.
“They should have been reunified a lot earlier,” he said.
He echoed Krakouer, saying there was not enough support for families, and said children should not be taken from families if they were not then supported.
He added that he hoped the coronial inquest would happen faster than usual.
Indigenous Australians minister, Linda Burney, tweeted that the boy’s death was shocking and heartbreaking.
My heart goes out to the family and community in WA that has lost a son so young.
— Linda Burney MP (@LindaBurneyMP) April 17, 2024
It’s shocking, heartbreaking and demands deep reflection.
Deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said it was “unspeakably tragic”.
“And it certainly does speak to the fact that we have enormous challenges going forward in relation to closing the gap,” he told ABC Breakfast.
“But we are completely determined to do this and we will – you know, news of this kind only adds to redoubling our efforts to make sure that we do everything we can to make inroads in respect to the gap.”
In WA, there have been two inquiries into spates of suicides among Aboriginal people in the Kimberley. One investigated 13 deaths of young people over a three-and-a-half year period and blamed intergenerational trauma and poverty. Of the 13, the youngest was 10.
An earlier inquiry into the deaths of 22 Aboriginal people around Fitzroy Crossing in 2008 found most were alcohol and drug related, and that there was “no real leadership or coordination in the response to the disaster of Aboriginal living conditions in the Kimberley on the part of either the state or commonwealth governments”.
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800. Help for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is available on 13YARN on 13 92 76.
