Australia - Tiahleigh Palmer, 12, slain, Pimpama River, Qld, 30 Oct 2015 #1 *Arrests*

[Brightbird]

Not looking good is it? I hope Tiah wasn't lured to her death by someone using social media.

Will be back later. Just marking my spot.

Don't know about social media necessarily, but I agree with lured. For better or worse, Tialeigh looks like a free spirit in her photos, so I can imagine she felt older than she was. And someone took advantage of that. The deactivated Facebook is odd/suss though, as far as social media goes.

 

[Makara]

Wasn't is reported that the police have said that TiahLeigh did not cancel her Facebook acccount. I'm sure I read that recently. I'll see if I can find a link.

 

[they'll get you]

'Looking for love in all the wrong places'?.

I wonder if the other children knew Tiah was in foster care? Was she teased? Did she consider herself a streetwise rebel?

IMO it makes Tiahliegh an easy target.

*was in foster care and had often run away from home, a former carer says.
*the girl’s troubled past
*her mother was hoping to regain custody
*(mother) spending years in and out of prison
*Ms Pemberton decided to stop acting as a foster carer.
*with one carer for less than 24 hours


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ng-overcome-criminal-past-regain-custody.html

 

[possumheart]

Wasn't is reported that the police have said that TiahLeigh did not cancel her Facebook acccount. I'm sure I read that recently. I'll see if I can find a link.

At the second last media conference it was said that was rumour of unknown origin. Unfortunately I haven't seen it in print yet.

 

[possumheart]

“If any of her friends are hiding her again, please do the right thing and let us know,” her foster carer wrote on the Crime Watch Logan page that night. “She needs to come home where she belongs.”Police too thought Tia was with friends. Abduction or foul play did not seem likely.
The following morning, Cyndi was posting again.
“This is the longest time she has been gone,” she wrote.
They continued their search. Cyndi continued messaging Tia’s school friends. The foster carers returned to the places they’d visited the night before.
Some of Tia’s friends were helpful. Others gave Cyndi the run-around, providing her with fake phone numbers and addresses.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...g-children-cases/story-fnihsrf2-1227608524608

 

[possumheart]

'Looking for love in all the wrong places'?.

I wonder if the other children knew Tiah was in foster care? Was she teased? Did she consider herself a streetwise rebel?

IMO it makes Tiahliegh an easy target.

*was in foster care and had often run away from home, a former carer says.
*the girl’s troubled past
*her mother was hoping to regain custody
*(mother) spending years in and out of prison
*Ms Pemberton decided to stop acting as a foster carer.
*with one carer for less than 24 hours


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ng-overcome-criminal-past-regain-custody.html

With all due respect, I don't like the tone of that article.

 

[BreakingNews]

My feeling is that she met someone online and went to meet him. She probably closed her fb so no one will know, maybe the plan with which they lured her was to run away with him. I think that is also why the other kids don't want to talk but some probably knew her plans. just my speculation

Where I stumble in this thinking is why/when did she ask her friend's mother if she could sleep there on the Friday night if she planned to run away with someone???

 

[possumheart]

Where I stumble in this thinking is why/when did she ask her friend's mother if she could sleep there on the Friday night if she planned to run away with someone???

it would only make sense if she was having a dialogue with someone on social media which wasn't finished and her foster carer curtailed her usage ... so she was looking for somewhere with computer access. I wonder if there is a public library near the school?
OH YES THERE IS
It is very well resourced and has a bunch of multimedia computers and a young adults area.

 

[Karo]

Yes, use of computers but she would have to book using her library card?

 

[possumheart]

Yes, use of computers but she would have to book using her library card?

I don't know.

 

[e.l.l.a]

I know it sounds callous, but I try to think of it as focusing on the positives, as we never will know the future now. But Tiah sounded very troubled, very off the rails, very defiant, a free-spirit, very affected by the unstable past she had. None of that was her fault. She was truly a victim, I agree. But IMO she was likely headed for a very rocky teenage-life, with perhaps even more troubling circumstances in the future. In that sense I try to think her life ending this way, - even though horrific (suspected, we don't know the details of her death really, but they likely were horrific)....has in some ways curtailed any future events which may have been even worse, with an even bigger circle of trauma. Some may think it couldn't have gotten worse than this for this poor girl, but I beg to differ. It really could have gotten FAR worse. This is just my view, as I have heard of many cases (and even seen some first-hand) of terribly troubled teens and lives they went on to lead before ending in death later on. Kylie Pearce-Stevenson comes to mind. I choose to think this way to try to rationalise that there is one small piece of *possible* mercy that has come from this.
Of course, for future cases of people like Tiah in the foster care system, I hope more can be done to help these kids before they become too affected by life, and off the rails. I don't know the answers.

 

[BreakingNews]

TP's public farewell. R.I.P.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...lgirl Tiahleigh farewelled&itmt=1447481524035

 

[Emmbles]

I think thats a really sad way to think and a judgemental gross generalisation.No one knows what the future holds. People from 'good' families also have bad stuff happen.
Karlie had the Joy of her teenage years, playing sport, learning to drive, falling in love, holding her beautiful baby in her arms. Poor Tiahleigh has been hurt and left in the most awful way.
Just IMO

 

[they'll get you]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ng-overcome-criminal-past-regain-custody.html

With all due respect, I don't like the tone of that article.

Yes poss I feel the comments were insinuating Tiahleigh was a problem child and again why would the Pastor refer to her shortcomings and imperfections?
I've never been to a funeral where these things are highlighted.

What 12 year old child has absolutely no faults?
Am I reading into these comments wrongly?

TP's public farewell. R.I.P.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...lgirl Tiahleigh farewelled&itmt=1447481524035

"TODAY we honour a girl who was beautifully imperfect, who has touched each of our lives."
"She was a girl with lots of good qualities and a couple of short-comings but no different from the rest of us ... slightly imperfect," a pastor at the Brisbane Anglican Maori Mission in Cornubia told mourners.

 

[they'll get you]

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...g-children-cases/story-fnihsrf2-1227608524608

Something is just not right and it's concerning.

Some of Tia's friends were helpful. Others gave Cindi the run around, providing her with fake phone numbers and addresses.

 

[they'll get you]

(This is a more positive article showing the love for Tiahliegh)

Tiahliegh Palmer: Hundreds attend schoolgirl's funeral dressed in her favourite colour purple.
Hundreds of family and friends gathered at Brisbane Anglican Maori Mission at Cornubia, south of Brisbane, for the funeral service.

Many of the mourners wore purple T-shirts emblazoned with a white heart and Tiahleigh's name - purple was her favourite colour.

About 400 white roses placed on her coffin and purple balloons were released as a hearse drove the coffin away for a private cremation.

Members of the Maori community also performed the Haka.

During the memorial, Tiahleigh was described as a young girl who loved shopping, movies and dancing.
Her family said they had been overwhelmed by the love and support they had received since her death.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-...eigh-palmer-funeral-dressed-in-purple/6941270

 

[Bohemian]

A WSer <modsnip> asked for information on the difference between approaches to the deaths of children in foster care in Qld and NSW. I found some information that could be relevant to Tiahleigh in this link:

9. What if there is a death of a child in out-of-home care?

https://www.communities.qld.gov.au/...-if-there-is-a-death-a-child-in-out-home-care

14. What if a child is missing?

https://www.communities.qld.gov.au/...re/what-ifs#s-2-14-what-if-a-child-is-missing

 

[sunnybree]

I know it sounds callous, but I try to think of it as focusing on the positives, as we never will know the future now. But Tiah sounded very troubled, very off the rails, very defiant, a free-spirit, very affected by the unstable past she had. None of that was her fault. She was truly a victim, I agree. But IMO she was likely headed for a very rocky teenage-life, with perhaps even more troubling circumstances in the future. In that sense I try to think her life ending this way, - even though horrific (suspected, we don't know the details of her death really, but they likely were horrific)....has in some ways curtailed any future events which may have been even worse, with an even bigger circle of trauma. Some may think it couldn't have gotten worse than this for this poor girl, but I beg to differ. It really could have gotten FAR worse. This is just my view, as I have heard of many cases (and even seen some first-hand) of terribly troubled teens and lives they went on to lead before ending in death later on. Kylie Pearce-Stevenson comes to mind. I choose to think this way to try to rationalise that there is one small piece of *possible* mercy that has come from this.
Of course, for future cases of people like Tiah in the foster care system, I hope more can be done to help these kids before they become too affected by life, and off the rails. I don't know the answers.

I feel as though this is a part of the problem though. If Tia, and other children like Tia, are only destined to go on to lead a terrible life, then there is no point in trying to make a difference. If that is the sum of her value, then what is the point of looking for her if she goes missing, or trying to find the person responsible for her death? What is the point of a care system? Why bother trying to help any child in trouble? And further to this, when kids in care hear sentiments like this (as unfortunately they very often do) it only reinforces to them that they are not valued and should never bother trying for something more.

I have known many children in Tia's situation, and these children are amazing children, courageous children, beautiful children, children with dreams, children who somehow manage to survive all of the awful things that happen to them. Of course, they don't have it fair -- they are "labelled", they lose over and over, they carry the scars of their abuse forever. Now some of them will go on to function well in adult life. Some won't. But Tia will never find out, because someone stole that from her. She'll never get her chance. Her last moments were probably ones of pain and terror. There are no positives for Tia.

I understand what you are mean and empathise with it. I think we can all feel helpless. But there are a lot of things people can do. Become a foster carer. Join a program that supports at risk children. Teach your own children to be kind and accepting to their peers who are "different". Speak up when foster children are labelled as "feral". Help that struggling mum down the street. Report child abuse and domestic violence to authorities. They aren't any answers on how to stop children being abused and therefore not having the baggage in the first place, but what I take away from it is this: children in foster care go missing every day, with no public outrage, fear, effort, or condemnation. It is as though Tia mattered less because she was in foster care and the community expects that Tia and children like her will always be at risk. But Tia shouldn't matter less to us for being in care. She should matter more.

 

[sunnybree]

Yes, use of computers but she would have to book using her library card?

I live in Logan and yes you do. That library location is fairly open planned and wouldn't be crowded--Logan Libraries is actually one large library split over a number of small branches, and these branches share resources. All of these branches are relatively small buildings. The library staff would probably notice a teen truant. It is also next door to the Browns Plains Child Safety office so wouldn't be my choice if I was a child in care skipping school! Having said that, it's also opposite a large shopping centre and the internet is free.

Edit: If Tialeigh had a phone with wifi capability, I think there may be wifi available at that shopping centre as well as the nearby McDonalds.

Edit again: There is also free wifi at the library for patrons.

 

[Karo]

Yes, I completely agree with you, there are many ways that we can all help, even by being a good role model.
It's a sad thing that we give up on children when it gets too hard.

I feel as though this is a part of the problem though. If Tia, and other children like Tia, are only destined to go on to lead a terrible life, then there is no point in trying to make a difference. If that is the sum of her value, then what is the point of looking for her if she goes missing, or trying to find the person responsible for her death? What is the point of a care system? Why bother trying to help any child in trouble? And further to this, when kids in care hear sentiments like this (as unfortunately they very often do) it only reinforces to them that they are not valued and should never bother trying for something more.

I have known many children in Tia's situation, and these children are amazing children, courageous children, beautiful children, children with dreams, children who somehow manage to survive all of the awful things that happen to them. Of course, they don't have it fair -- they are "labelled", they lose over and over, they carry the scars of their abuse forever. Now some of them will go on to function well in adult life. Some won't. But Tia will never find out, because someone stole that from her. She'll never get her chance. Her last moments were probably ones of pain and terror. There are no positives for Tia.

I understand what you are mean and empathise with it. I think we can all feel helpless. But there are a lot of things people can do. Become a foster carer. Join a program that supports at risk children. Teach your own children to be kind and accepting to their peers who are "different". Speak up when foster children are labelled as "feral". Help that struggling mum down the street. Report child abuse and domestic violence to authorities. They aren't any answers on how to stop children being abused and therefore not having the baggage in the first place, but what I take away from it is this: children in foster care go missing every day, with no public outrage, fear, effort, or condemnation. It is as though Tia mattered less because she was in foster care and the community expects that Tia and children like her will always be at risk. But Tia shouldn't matter less to us for being in care. She should matter more.