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Five-year-old foster boy had ‘toxic drug cocktail’ in system at death, reports

The shocking toxicology report into the death of a five-year-old boy, who was in foster care at the time of his passing, has raised concerns about the large cocktail of drugs found in his system.

The child was found to have a dangerous mixture of “diazepam, morphine, opiates and possibly heroin” according to a child protection employee, reports News Corp.

Disturbingly the young boy’s arm was also reportedly showing an “unaccounted for” bruise “possibly from a syringe”.

At the time of his passing in 2015, the boy also had hepatitis C and suffered from epilepsy according to reports. Source: Getty Images.
At the time of his passing in 2015, the boy also had hepatitis C and suffered from epilepsy according to reports. Source: Getty Images.

The five-year-old also had insect bite marks on his body and a bad burn on his back the report has revealed.

Merely days before the boy died on his foster parents couch, teachers at the child’s local kindergarden, located in Sydney’s south west, had to ring ambulance officers to take the child to hospital due to the severity of the burn on his back.

According to News Corp, the school the child attended had raised fears of his treatment with Family and Community Services prior to the child’s death, but the boy was not removed from his foster parents care.

At the time of his passing in 2015, the boy also had hepatitis C and suffered from epilepsy, News Corp reports.

The child was found to have “diazepam, morphine, opiates and possibly heroin”, according to a child protection employee reports News Corp. Source: Supplied.
The child was found to have “diazepam, morphine, opiates and possibly heroin”, according to a child protection employee reports News Corp. Source: Supplied.


The boy’s foster parents were also given custody of the child’s older siblings at the time however the surviving siblings were removed from the home immediately following their brothers death, News Corp reports.

The children have reportedly not since been returned to the home.

The case at the time was being managed by Uniting Care who were the same non-government organisation that operated the Gordon House foster care group home, News Corp reports.

Gordon House was cast into the national spotlight highlighting how our children protection system was failing some of our most vulnerable when the case of Girl X was first reported on.

The teenager, dubbed
The teenager, dubbed

Girl X, a 14-year-old, died of a drug overdose in 2014.

An inquest later heard she had been raped repeatedly during her time in care at Gordon House in Pennant Hills before she died after reportedly injecting a mixture of heroin and ice.

According to News Corp, the boy’s body is buried not far from Girl X’s.

Now the NSW deputy state coroner and the state’s ombudsman are investigating the death of the boy as well, while the state’s Department of Families and Communities Services has already completed its review.

A spokesperson for FACS said Minister Brad Hazzard learned of the boy’s death in April last year but would not comment as it was currently a police matter.

News Corp also reported the Wesley Mission run Uniting Care, which is responsible for 383 children, has been declared a ‘deferred’ agency by the government because it continues to fail accreditation tests.

A leaked email cited by the paper and dated November 7 revealed the reasons behind at least one accreditation failure.

“Unfortunately, we have not been able to demonstrate to the Office of the Children’s Guardian that we are ready to be accredited on this occasion,” the email read.

“What they would like to see is an increase in consistency across our Out of Home Care program.”

Long periods of "deferral" can cost agencies their right to care for children, however, Uniting Care has stressed that it is currently accredited.

Uniting director of Resilient Families Bob Mulcahy said the organisation could not comment on the boy’s death but said the re-accredition process was routine and did not mean it was uncertified to care for children.

Yahoo7 reached out to NSW Family and Community Services for comment.

News break – November 18