Three child protection workers in the Northern Territory have been stood down pending an investigation into “actions taken, or not taken” in relation to the case of Kumanjayi Little Baby, with the minister suggesting generally there was a reluctance to remove Aboriginal children from their homes “for fear of being accused of creating another stolen generation”.
Five-year-old Warlpiri girl Kumanjayi Little Baby, a name used in line with cultural tradition after her death, was reported missing by her mother in the early hours of Sunday 26 April, about two hours after she had been put to bed in a home at the Old Timers/Ilyperenye town camp in Alice Springs.
Her disappearance triggered a massive five-day land and air search by police and more than 300 volunteers. Her body was found on Thursday 30 April, about 5km from the place she was last seen.
Jefferson Lewis, 47, has been charged with her murder and other offences.
A spokesperson for Northern Territory child protection minister, Robyn Cahill, said three child protection workers had been stood down on Wednesday morning.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email“They’ve been stood down while an investigation is under way into actions taken, or not taken, in relation to this case,” she said.
Cahill earlier told News Corp she had asked her department about the girl’s case and had been told there was “nothing to see here”.
But when she asked for a briefing, she said, “there was a lot to see there”.
“There is an absolute reluctance to move children from Aboriginal families for fear of being accused of creating another stolen generation,” Cahill said. “You cannot use that as an excuse if they are not safe.”
She flagged a full investigation and called on the NT children’s commissioner to run an independent investigation.
As of 30 June 2025, there were 733 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care in the NT, compared with 90 non-Indigenous children. Indigenous children were removed at more than 12 times the rate of non-Indigenous children, according to the 2026 report on government services.
Data released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in 2025 showed that more than 70% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care in the NT in 2022-2023 were not placed with Indigenous relatives or kin, non-Indigenous relatives or kin, or another First Nations caregiver – the lowest rate in all jurisdictions.
Catherine Liddle, the chief executive of peak body SNAICC, which represents the interests of Indigenous children, said the minister should also launch a separate investigation into how media organisations were able to obtain confidential details allegedly from Kumanjayi Little Baby’s child protection file.
She said publishing those details “only served to demonise a mother trying to keep herself and her children safe”.
News Corp publications on Thursday reported that Kumanjayi Little Baby had been subject to six child protection notifications – meaning reports of concern had been made to child protection authorities but not necessarily investigated, substantiated, or acted upon – in recent months.
“In the Northern Territory, exposure to family violence is a mandatory child protection report,” Liddle said. “This does not necessarily mean a child is at risk and should be removed from family.
“Notifications do not mean substantiation.”
Liddle suggested the information may have been leaked, and added that leaking information “erodes trust in the very system that is meant to keep our children safe”.
“Again Aboriginal families and communities are being targeted and blamed when we know this is fairly and squarely a failure of government systems such as justice, corrections and public housing,” she said.
“This was a child who was very loved and her family are shattered at her loss.”
