A broken system, those who need protecting most are let down

Reading today's Aus I noted on the front page a story by Carolyn Overington about two neglected children who entered the state government system and were badly let down.

THEY were two boys who had lived their whole lives in a house with windows covered with sheets of black plastic.

They had never been to school and nobody was allowed to visit them. Their mother, who cannot be named because it would identify the children, was in the grip of a serious mental illness. She feared the outside world.

When police broke down the door, they found the boys, by then aged eight and 10, wearing clothes so thick with grease they stuck to their skin. Their hair had grown long and wild.

The boys were placed with a foster family and properly cared for, but didn't like living by the rules. Unfortunately the foster carers and their rules were not supported by DOCS and the boys were moved, which was disastrous.

Read more here.

Bernie Slattery, moderating and generally holding the fort for Andrew Bolt, has posted on this same article.

Saint has also posted on a pregnant 12 year old with the mental age of a six year old being granted an abortion.