Arabic version: مديرة سابقة لخدمات الدعم تدلي بشهادتها في تحقيق بورت لينكولن

According to ABC News, a former manager of Port Lincoln’s Aboriginal Family Support Services has given evidence at an inquest into the 2021 death of Budda Spencer, a 13-year-old boy who was sleeping rough in an industrial skip bin. The bin was emptied into a rubbish truck during a routine collection in May 2021. Two other boys, aged 11 and 12, were also sleeping in the bin and were unharmed.

Angela Backman told the court that she believed SA Police and the Department for Child Protection did not understand her organisation’s therapeutic approach to helping children return to their families. She said she felt authorities were saying the service was not doing its job because children were repeatedly going missing. Backman said staff had at times followed young people around town, but had to pull back because it created risks when children jumped in front of cars.

Backman said Aboriginal Family Support Services supported parents and aimed to keep Port Lincoln families together. The service offered voluntary parenting programs and offered support to Budda Spencer’s mother, Deborah Betts, who did not attend because of illness. Backman said the organisation regularly supported two of the boy’s friends and became familiar with him through them. If families did not engage with support, she said the service would refer the risk back to the department.

Asked about broader departmental involvement, Backman agreed there should be more support from Department for Child Protection staff, including their physical attendance at meetings. She said the department had powers to enforce participation that her service did not have. She also told the inquest that at-risk children were generally not being visited by departmental staff.

Counsel assisting Rebecca Schell said Budda Spencer’s mother had reported increasing concerns about her son to multiple agencies. A Department for Child Protection notification in March 2021 described him as an adolescent at risk, and further concerns were raised in the weeks before his death. The inquest is expected to examine notifications made to the department, including concerns discussed at a meeting on May 4, 2021.