Updated May 09, 2018 21:23:05

Photo: The Tennant Creek community was left reeling by the alleged incident (ABC: Bridget Brennan)

Child protection services "failed" a two-year-old girl allegedly raped in the outback town of Tennant Creek, and provided "inadequate and ad-hoc" support, an independent report has concluded.

The Children's Commissioner, Colleen Gwynne, launched her own investigation into the case in February, after it was revealed NT Police made 20 notifications from July 2015 onwards, relating to separate incidents about the family of the child.

Sixteen of those were made directly to Territory Families, and the agency has since agreed to review all files where children have had multiple notifications in the system.

The independent report, tabled in Parliament on Wednesday night, found the alleged sexual assault "was not the only violence [the child] had been exposed to, and experienced, in her short life".

Fifty-two child protection notifications relating to the child or her siblings were documented between 2002 and 2018, the report noted, and prior to the alleged sexual assault, police "had also conducted investigations in relation to sexual and physical abuse upon her siblings".

"Prior to the birth of C1 [the child], Territory Families had available to it an abundance of evidence relating to the substantial neglect and numerous harms suffered by all of her older siblings," the report noted.

"This included the fact that they themselves sought safety and regularly self-placed with different extended family to avoid return to the care of P1."

The review identified a "significant number" of issues in relation to Territory Families service delivery, with some delivery issues "attributable to the Northern Territory Police".

It found there were "critical intervention points" where the system failed the child and her siblings.

"This appears to be a result of inadequate and ad-hoc provision of services and support, the failure to appropriately assess cumulative harm, a culture of reporting and referrals with no or limited evidence of meaningful actions or outcomes," the report stated.

"Interventions were not commensurate to the significant needs of the children based on the level of trauma experienced."

It concluded that if the system failures that led to the "tragic and inevitable trauma" experienced by the child were not addressed urgently, "it is likely that other children will be subjected to, and suffer from, similar traumatic experiences which will continue to affect them throughout their lives."

The report made 14 recommendations specific to Territory Families, NT Police and the Northern Territory Government, including the development of a strategy to address the current backlog of overdue investigations, and an ongoing review of child protection policy and practice.

Territory Families 'missed warning signs and ignored risks'

The case thrust the Northern Territory's handling of child protection cases into the national spotlight.

In March, an internal review undertaken by the Northern Territory Government also concluded child protection services lacked oversight and coordination in its handling of the case.

In response to the Children's Commissioner's report, Territory Families Minister Dale Wakefield conceded reform was needed.

"This report outlines an awful history of unsound decisions and failures to observe policies and procedures by Northern Territory child protection agencies over a 16-year period up until early 2016," she said.

"From 2011 to the end of 2016, there were many points at which the relevant agency missed warning signs and ignored risks.

Photo: Ms Wakefield said the Government had accepted the report's recommendations. (ABC News: Mitchell Woolnough)

"The interests of children were not front and foremost of the deliberations of staff."

Ms Wakefield said the Government had accepted all 14 recommendations, and that work was underway to overhaul the sector, including a $66.9 million pledge to develop a new platform to manage child protection cases, a "thorough review" of the concerns for the wellbeing of children in care policy, and the development of a quality assurance framework for out-of-home care.

Territory Families also accepted the report's recommendations, but proposed the conclusion be amended because "there was not sufficient evidence before the commissioner to draw this finding".

In a response to the Children's Commissioner, NT Police said it would meet with Territory Families to ensure that the policy, procedure and tools used related to notifications and investigations were "appropriate and rigorous".

Topics: community-and-society, child-abuse, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, aboriginal, government-and-politics, politics-and-government, nt, tennant-creek-0860, darwin-0800, alice-springs-0870

First posted May 09, 2018 20:59:44