I'm not sure of the case in other states but in NSW FaCS would DEFINITELY be called in as the first point of contact to arrange support services for a family in a situation like this. They do this for ANY family in crisis, not just those who have a history with their dept.
It would be more surprising if they weren't there early on - Grandma's devastated & had to leave her home to stay with friends. Dad was distraught & actively involved in the searches. Mum was reportedly heavily sedated - this was during the first day or so when there was still hope he'd be found in the scrub. I can't imagine how much worse it is now.
Meanwhile there are sibling/s requiring support for their own confusion & grief, not to mention meals, housework, clean clothes & childcare. THIS is one of the less recognised services provided by FaCS.
A police family liaison officer would've contacted them for support services very early on because there are other young child/ren involved (it might've changed but when I last worked in a related area, if the kids are under a particular age the reporting is mandatory). By going through FaCS they can quickly get cleaners/childcare etc in place & *ensure that the workers have had the required police checks clearing them for work with children*. It's obvious the family would need support & there's no way police would risk sending in a volunteer who hadn't been cleared - FaCS is the fastest way to do this without taking local police away from searches to run background checks on potential helpers.
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If you find yourself involved in a high profile case, you're going to get your face & any nasty secrets splashed across the papers, tv & internet whether you like it or not -most recently, look at baby Gammy's parents. If there's a no-publish order that media feel is unwarranted Aus media have & will pursue a case through the courts to have it lifted. That even our tabloid journo's are completely accepting of the police requests not to publish photos or names, & at the same time are treating the family with sensitivity, it seems that IF the complicated legal history relates to criminal behaviour, a family member was possibly a victim of it, not a perpetrator.
& someone else mentioned it pages & pages back but I'm leaning toward something to do with the letterbox. The senior officer pointed out the steep slope leading up to the road & the unlikelihood a little guy would choose to run that way for fun. Little kids love being the first to get the mail & present it to an adult. Someone delivering something to your house is not a stranger in a child's eyes.
I'm also in a little NSW bush coastal town (south of Sydney in my case) & while I have no clue what mail deliveries are like in Kendall, down here we have 2 types (of official mail). We have have the posties on little motorbikes like someone else mentioned, but those guys can't do parcel post. Parcel post was once done by official Aus Post owned vans - bright red, logos, highly visible. These days it's contracted out. Our parcel post comes in a battered white transit van with sliding doors & no side windows in the back. Sometimes they tape a sign on the small darkened back window saying "Aus Post Mail Contractor", but because it's also their own personal use vehicle, sometimes they forget. Sometimes (rarely) someone else fills in for them
We also get free local newspaper deliveries, bulk junk mail deliveries & people trying to boost their low income delivering (& then collecting) mail order style catalogues. We're a relatively small place (but not as small as Kendall), I've been here over a decade & with the exception of our parcel postie I've never recognised any of these people. A lot of them pick up their deliveries in the closest regional centre & drive out to towns like ours - but again, it's all supposition that any of this is relevant
<modsnip> because the "no *unknown* vehicles" worries me. When you don't know you need to be paying attention & you've lived somewhere long enough to get used to the local rhythms of daily life, it's easy to assume you're just seeing a vehicle/delivery/person that you normally expect to see
(sorry this is so long, this case is getting to me like no other ever has, I can't even explain why)
Oh, & the reason they searched for 9 days might be this - even though he was younger & alone, people hoped for a miracle & so far 9 days is the record for a kid in the Australian bush
(awful that they've only just held the 150th anniversay just weeks ago)
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/story-of-young-childrens-survival-in-wimmera-bush-for-nine-days-endures-150-years-on-20140810-101l2y.html