As found on the ABC web site.

YOU TELL ME ALL THAT ARE READING THIS, HOW WOULD YOU LIKE THIS TO HAPPEN TO YOUR FAMILY!!

Do you notice all the things I have been complaining about are in this article.


ELEANOR HALL: Now to Queensland and the damaging bungle by the State's Child Safety Department, which wrongly separated a mother from her children for more than a year.

The Brisbane mother lost custody of her two boys because her case file was mixed up with a drug-abusing, mentally ill woman.

The Minister for Child Safety has apologised for the mistake, but as Dea Clark reports, child advocates say it's evidence there are major problems with child protection in Queensland.

DEA CLARK: In May last year, Federal Police removed the children from their classroom and took them to a police station where they were handed over to the woman's former partner.

According to a report in The Australian newspaper, the police were acting on information supplied to them by Queensland's Child Safety Department.

Legal Aid officers refused to grant the mother assistance to fight her case in the Federal Court because they said it was unwinnable after viewing her Department file.

But the Minister for Child Safety, Mike Reynolds, says the removal of the children had nothing to do with his Department.

MIKE REYNOLDS: It is therefore wrong to link the filing error with the custody decision and subsequent actions taken by the Family Court.

Neither the original Family Court decision, I'll say that again, neither the original Family Court decision, nor the police execution of the recovery order was based on any information from the Department of Child Safety.

DEA CLARK: What's not disputed is that information contained in the woman's case file related to another Brisbane mother with a different name.

The distraught 35-year-old, who can't be named for legal reasons, only discovered the error after filing a freedom of information application.

The Child Safety Department's Minister, Mike Reynolds, concedes it was a terrible mistake.

MIKE REYNOLDS: This family, can I say first of all, has been subjected to unnecessary distress, and these circumstances are totally unacceptable. As Minister for Child Safety I apologise to those who have been affected and for any anguish this may have caused.

DEA CLARK: The woman's file contained information identifying her as having a psychiatric illness and a history of drug and alcohol abuse.

The error was discovered two weeks ago when the woman read her file, just three weeks before her custody case was to go to court.

MIKE REYNOLDS: Given the pending Family Court trial date, it was decided that immediate action was required to inform all relevant parties of the error pertaining to the linked file. Letters were prepared post haste and sent to the relevant parties, including the client's solicitor and the registrar of the family court. The record was set straight as quickly as possible to ensure that the court was dealing with the absolute facts of the matter.

DEA CLARK: But according to child advocate, Hetty Johnson, the damage has already been done.

HETTY JOHSON: They were dragged out of school apparently, I mean that's just embarrassing, it's humiliating.

DEA CLARK: The Department says the mistake was human error and occurred because the women have similar surnames and birth dates.

Hetty Johnson says despite a damning Crime and Misconduct Commission report into child protection and an overhaul of the Department overseeing child safety, there are still major problems.

HETTY JOHSON: I don't think the Government's woes with the Department of Child Safety are over, despite all the rhetoric. I think we're going to have a few more problems poke their head up in the not-too-distant future unless this Government puts the focus just as equally back to child protection, and as it is on health, and let's get this right.

DEA CLARK: Mike Reynolds says the information was incorrectly put into the file fours years ago, well before the Department's overhaul, but even so he's ordered an urgent investigation.

ELEANOR HALL: Dea Clark reporting from Brisbane.

Thanks to whoever sent me this ABC Story.