I don’t disagree with you, SthAussie. NSWPF should have intervened much earlier, and there’s no excuse for that. Let’s rewind to April 2012, just a month after W came to stay with his foster parents. An official from the state government team supporting the foster care visits would later testify in court that they were present when the foster parents disciplined Ws sister, stating, “and I was there, where the foster parents used time-out with her, but for them, time-out meant time-outside.” William’s sister was only 2 years old at the time. The foster mum also told this official that she'd threatened to smack William's sister but had never done it.
So yes It does make you wonder how many situations could have been prevented if the right interventions had happened earlier. And this really angers me because both FACS and the fp were suppose to protect the children in their care and to ensure their safety and wellbeing.
No doubt it’s easy for some to only take into account recent events but fm behaviour and inappropriate forms of discipline were evident from the very beginning.