Child safety officer incorrectly assessed Elizabeth Struhs as ‘safe’ day after she was admitted to hospital in coma

Elizabeth Struhs, 8, died after being denied insulin in January 2022. Photograph: BBCView image in fullscreenElizabeth Struhs, 8, died after being denied insulin in January 2022. Photograph: BBCChild safety officer incorrectly assessed Elizabeth Struhs as ‘safe’ day after she was admitted to hospital in coma Inquest into the death of eight-year-old Queensland girl who was denied insulin by her religious parents is told her case was complex

A child safety officer incorrectly assessed Elizabeth Struhs as “safe” one day after she arrived at hospital in a coma and nearly died due to the neglect of her parents, a coroner’s court has heard.

A Queensland coronial inquest heard evidence on Tuesday from one of the two child safety officers who ultimately decided to return the then six-year-old type 1 diabetic to the care of her parents at their home in Toowoomba.

She died there on 7 Jan 2022 while her mother, Kerrie, father Jason and other members of their small religious sect prayed for her miraculous healing or resurrection.

None of the witnesses can be identified for legal reasons.

The child safety officer was given the duty of investigating Elizabeth’s home after she presented to Toowoomba hospital in a coma suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis on 17 July 2019. He later became her case worker.

Just one day later – after she was transferred to the Queensland children’s hospital in Brisbane – another child safety officer who assisted him completed an initial safety assessment of Elizabeth. She marked her “safe”.

But her colleague told the court on Wednesday that Elizabeth should have been recorded as “unsafe” because they didn’t have enough information about her circumstances at the time.

Elizabeth was later assessed as a child in need of protection, a legal standard under the child safety act.

In 2021, both Jason and Kerrie were convicted of not providing the necessaries of life to their daughter as a result of the 2019 incident, and Kerrie jailed.

The child safety officer later had a conversation with a doctor from the Queensland children’s hospital who told him Elizabeth was lucky not to have died and that Kerrie had not shown remorse as a result of the incident.

The doctor said Kerrie continued to not believe in medicine and that it would be unsafe for her daughter to live with her until she changed her views, the inquest heard.

“The pressure on dad around such strong religious beliefs will be difficult,” the doctor told him, according to his contemporaneous notes presented in court on Wednesday.

“The team feel that the only way to force mum to see the concerns may be for Elizabeth to be out of home.”

Elizabeth was sent home despite the objections of the Brisbane-based specialist pediatric doctors.

The doctor told the court on Monday that she felt “stonewalled” by the officer after raising concerns about Elizabeth’s safety at home.

Elizabeth was ultimately returned home to live with her family, with an intervention parental agreement: a short-term, voluntary arrangement that allows child safety authorities to aid a child in danger without a child protection order, the inquest heard.

On Wednesday, the child safety officer said that the safety plan they adopted for Elizabeth “in hindsight, could have been more robust”.

But he said he didn’t have a clear recollection of a meeting in which they discussed the idea of adopting the plan.

“I do recall being in two minds about the best outcome for Elizabeth and her siblings specifically Elizabeth being able to remain at home and connected with her family or out of home,” he said in a written statement provided to the court.

He said it was a difficult decision and that there were practical considerations of how to manage the complex case.

The child safety officer said it was significant that Jason had repeatedly committed to provide insulin for his daughter. Elizabeth required daily insulin injections to live.

The inquest previously heard Jason, a long-time skeptic of his wife’s religion, subsequently provided medical attention for Elizabeth for two years. But he ceased doing so after being convinced to convert and then to stop treating her by the members of the group and stopped her insulin in late 2021, causing her death.

All 14 adult members of the sect – known as the Saints – were convicted of Elizabeth’s manslaughter last year, including the group leader, Brendan Stevens.