BUREAUCRATIC ARROGANCE ROBS MOTHER OF HER CHILDREN

Two children have been separated from their mother for 15 months because the Queensland Child Safety Department mixed up the woman's case file with that of a mentally-ill, drug and alcohol dependent child-abuser. The children, aged 11 and 8, were taken from their classrooms by federal police and placed in the care of the mother's former partner, who has a criminal record, a history of drug addiction and is not the older child's biological father. Queensland Legal Aid officers refused to grant the mother assistance to fight her case in the Family Court, declaring it unwinnable after reading her file from the Child Safety Department.

The 35-year old woman, who has only a Year 10 education, discovered the bungle after filing a freedom of information application to the department. The application, lodged in November last year, took eight months to process and followed unsuccessful appeals to the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of the Family Court. Two weeks ago, 235 pages of documents were handed over, which included extensive confidential details relating to another Brisbane mother who has a different name.

Ms T, whose full name cannot be published for legal reasons, contacted the department and pointed out the anomalies. Last week, a senior officer drove to her Brisbane bayside home and asked for the department file to be returned. "The mistakes of these people ruin lives," the mother said. "Children should not have to go through all of this because of mistakes bureaucrats have made. "On May 25, 2004, police came to my children's school and took them from the classroom back to the police station and handed them over to my former partner. It is all just so wrong."

She was handed a copy of a letter from the department to the Registrar of the Family Court saying a departmental investigation had detected an error in the material supplied to the court for the custody hearing beginning in Brisbane next week. The department's letter, dated August 3, said: "This error includes material that identifies Ms T ... as having a history of drug and alcohol use/abuse, mental health illness and erratic/volatile behaviour. "Unfortunately, the information had inadvertently been included in Ms T's file, but in fact it belongs to a totally unrelated client. "The Department of Child Safety regrets any inconvenience [How big of them!] caused to the applicant and to the parties, and is currently seeking to remedy the situation as soon as possible."

Ms T said yesterday she survived on a supporting parent's pension with the two older children she has at home, and could not afford legal representation to fight for custody of the two younger ones. She has been forced to represent herself in court, preparing all legal documentation without assistance. "I have been treated like a fool," she said. "At various times, I have actually been told I was a nutter by bureaucrats. These are people who are supposed to be concerned with justice and the best interests of the children, but neither of those considerations came into play. "For the last 15 months, I have had to live without my children and the older ones have had to live without their siblings, and nothing can replace that. "I am so angry this has happened. If only somebody had listened to me, just once, the mistakes could have been addressed," she said. "The Department of Child Safety last week contacted Legal Aid and told them of their mistake, and I have been offered a solicitor with just one week to prepare for a four-day custody trial."

Child Safety Minister Mike Reynolds said the mistake occurred when the file was compiled in 2001. "More than $200million has been spent reforming this department, and the mistake was made under the old Family Services Department," he said. "We acted very quickly to give to all parties the material to clarify the matters that needed to be clarified because it is set down for hearing on August 15. It is unfortunate this error has occurred, but also important that as a result of our enhanced complaints mechanisms, it has been brought to our attention and rectified."

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