The SA Department for Child Protection manager who assessed the final notification received before a baby died living in squalor did not give it a higher priority because there was "no information" on the state of the house, an inquest has heard.
WARNING: Readers may find details in this story distressing.
But State Coroner David Whittle was told that the Department for Child Protection (DCP) had received at least three child protection notifications about the squalid conditions of the house in the months before the boy died.
Mr Whittle is investigating whether the unhygienic state of a regional South Australian home contributed to the 11-week-old baby boy's death in November 2018.
He is also examining the DCP response to the 23 notifications received before the boy's death.
The boy was found unresponsive while sleeping on a fold-out couch with his two siblings, teenage mother, and another person in November 2018.
The inquest has heard the house was covered in food scraps, cat faeces and soiled nappies, as well as having a strong odour of urine.
David Armour is a senior practitioner at the DCP Child Abuse Report Line (CARL) and is tasked with peer reviewing social worker responses to child protection notifications.
He gave evidence at the inquest this morning, telling the court the last notification received in relation to the boy was 10 days before his death, on November 20, 2018.
Mr Armour said notifications were either given a 24-hour response time or 10-day response time and the final notification in relation to the boy was given the latter.
"It was assessed as within 10 days. At that point in time, we didn't have information that the house was immediately unsafe," he told the inquest.
"We didn't have any information about the state of the house, and we can't do an immediate response for something we just don't know."
The inquest heard DCP received a notification in March 2018, about a "young family living in squalor", which was assessed by CARL as needing a three-day response, but it was "closed, no action" by the regional SA office.
Another notification was made in May 2018, about faeces throughout the house, a chicken carcass on the floor, a strong odour and a child sick with a lung infection which could have been "due to the state of the house".
The inquest heard a notification was received in September 2018 — two days before the boy was born — that raised concerns about the "potentially hazardous" condition of the house and the unwillingness of the mother to engage with support services.
That notification was closed by CARL staff and was not forwarded to the local office for a follow-up.
Mr Armour told the inquest that notification was not "screened out" to the local DCP office because the notifier did not "clearly identify hazards".
He said CARL staff made their assessments about how DCP should respond to notifications by reviewing information provided by a notifier and all past notifications.
The inquest continues.
