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An ice-addicted mother and violent father, who have had eight of their children removed from their care, were given a full-time carer  to help them keep their ninth child.

The Sydney couple were also given the opportunity to attend group therapy sessions ahead of the child’s birth, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Vulnerable families co-ordinator for Western Sydney Local Health District Kylie Hughes said the baby, who is now seven-months-old, is “thriving” because of several intervention programs the government is trialling.

“We actually put services in their house. We had someone in their house with them for 40 hours a week assisting them with their interactions with the baby (and) observing them and ensuring that there was no more violence,” she said.

“Now we’ve managed to reduce the number of services and they go out to visit and they have case management outside of the home.”

Family and Community Services Minister Brad Hazzard said separating children from their parents was not always the answer to difficult social problems.

Opposition Family and Community Services spokeswoman Tania Mihailuk has called on the government to introduce the programs across New South Wales.

“This minister must allocate prenatal case managers to every FACS district to ensure that necessary early intervention support is there to stop these babies from becoming just another tragic statistic,” she said.

I can’t help but think of Maria Lutz (Family of four who were recently gassed) who was desperate for help and no-one would listen. I know they are totally different circumstances, but I really wish their could be more support offered right across the board.

Do you support this program?

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  • They are terribly lucky, but I fear for teh child.

    Reply

  • whats going to happen after the social worker leaves? 5years time?
    why act on the 9th child not the 4th child?
    I’m unsure about this even though its a good idea but I don’t think its a long time fix.
    family of 4, how old were the kids? past the toddlers stage but a child yet they got gassed!

    Reply

  • I’m sure everyone would like a second chance at things, especially if they’ve “turned over a new leaf.” I think in this case, it is a bit more complex because children are involved. It’s high risk leaving the child with it’s parents but I would be really interested to see how the parents go with support. The problem for me is when the support is removed because it’s unlikely the government can afford to provide support for 18 years until the child is an adult – what happens when the support and monitoring is gone?

    Reply

  • It is all very well to have care, but what about the rest of the time. The Mum should be in Rehabilitation care and if the Dad is violent is the baby safe with him? Until the parents issues are resolved I think the authorities have done the right thing removing the children, hopefully to a peaceful safe place where no further harm can come to them. What quality of life have those children had surrounded by violence? The article doesn’t state whether or not the children have been abused.

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  • It looks like a wonderful program. I support it completely!!

    Reply

  • It scares me to think kids are being left with people like this. They’ve already lost 8 kids to welfare. Ok so they have home help, but it’s not 24/7. I get it’s good to have kids with their parents, but I think this is open to much abuse

    Reply

  • re education might just be the answer in this case

    Reply

  • Think indeed separating children from their parents is not always the answer to difficult social problems.
    And using this program might be cheaper in long term then removing the child and also less damaging.
    I like the idea.

    Reply

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