Chilling documents have revealed child safety workers feared a methamphetamine-addicted mother took drugs and fell asleep a year before her two daughters died in a hot car.
The disturbing details were heard in the ongoing inquest into the deaths of Darcey-Helen, 2, and her sister Chloe-Ann, 18 months, who were abandoned in the hot car by their mother Kerri-Ann Conley outside their house in Waterford West, south. from Brisbane in November 2019.
The two girls remained inside the vehicle for nine hours as temperatures reached a scorching 61.5C.
Conley pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to nine years in prison, to be eligible for parole later this year.
On the fourth day of the coronial inquest into their deaths, details were revealed that a Queensland Department of Child Safety officer, who worked with Conley for six months during 2018, feared Darcey-Helen could be in danger.
Kerr-Anne Conley (pictured right) pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter after leaving her two daughters in a hot car outside her south Brisbane home as temperatures reached a scorching 61 .5°C.
The officer first handled a complaint about Darcey’s welfare shortly after her birth in May 2017.
She worked with Conley before Chloe-Ann’s birth and noted that she feared the mother would use drugs and might “fall asleep” if she was the only one caring for Darcey-Helen.
The officer spent six months working with Conley through a Department of Child Safety Intervention with Parental Agreement.
The intervention allows child safety officers to work closely with young children and their families, to ensure their needs and concerns about their safety are addressed.
The officer told the investigation that his concerns were mentioned in a case plan when the department began working with Conley.
“I was worried that if she (Conley) doesn’t have someone to work with regularly, that might happen,” he said.
‘It was something relevant that worried us and that could happen in the future. At that time we didn’t think this was definitely going to happen.”
The intervention agreement ended in June 2018, before Kerri-Anne was referred to a family support service, as she did not want help from children’s services and showed a lack of commitment to the support they were trying to provide.
The child safety officer broke down in tears while testifying before State Coroner Terry Ryan, who acknowledged the workload of the department’s staff.
A child safety officer reviewed a complaint about Darcey-Helen’s welfare (pictured centre), in 2017, after the girl was born in May of that year.
Child safety officers had raised concerns that Kerri-Anne (pictured) was taking drugs and could “fall asleep”, and the warning was issued a year before her two daughters died.
“We are not looking to place blame on any particular individual,” Mr. Ryan assured the officer.
Evidence was also presented at the inquiry detailing how the Child Safety Service was inundated with 600 calls in November 2019, the same month staff were told Kerri-Anne was taking drugs.
A senior department official who spoke at the inquiry said the workload left staff under more stress.
“I felt a real level of discomfort in terms of confidence that those child safety officers could classify or evaluate incoming work appropriately,” she said.
The inquest was also told court orders could have been applied to remove Darcey-Helen from Conley’s care when the intervention agreement was being finalised.
“That little girl was very well-liked, she could have gone to a crowd of people, everyone was raising their hand for her,” he said.
When a child safety officer who responded to a call on November 6, 2019, relaying information about Conley and his drug use, failed to file a Child Protection Notice.
In both 2017 and 2019, the officer filed a child concern report instead of a child protection notification, which would have required the department to launch an investigation and assessment of the claims.
The inquest was told court orders could have been applied to remove Darcy-Helen (pictured) from her mother’s care at the time the intervention agreement was about to conclude.
Darcey-Helen was briefly removed from Conley’s care in 2017, before being returned to her mother in December of that year.
An intervention agreement had been established, but Kerri-Anne did not consent before the agreement ended in 2018.
At the time, Darcey-Helen was considered to be at medium risk of harm even though her mother was not participating in rehabilitation programs for her drug use.
It is understood Conley will be listening from jail during the five-day inquest, which will end on Friday.
