News by Kate Kyriacou
Premium Content From fatal assaults and neglect to drownings and suicide - Queensland children who are known to the Department of Child Safety are four times more likely to die than those who aren t. Statistics released via the Queensland Family and Child Commission s annual report into child deaths show 53 children died in the 2019/20 financial year who had had some contact with the department in the 12 months prior. Of those, 14 died from causes that are yet to be determined, 11 from natural causes, nine from assault or neglect, eight from suicide, five from crashes, three drowned, two died from unintentional injuries and one from SIDS or an undetermined cause.
Ally Rando and Justin White
On opening night of the Arizona International Film Festival, organizers honored St. Maryâs Hospital nursing staff and associates for their hard teamwork and dedication during the pandemic. ICU nurses Ally Rando and Justin White attended on behalf of all their coworkers at St. Maryâs Hospital.
âWorking with patients throughout the pandemic has taught me how extraordinarily fragile life is and how vulnerable we can all be,â White said. âThis gave me a true sense of humbleness and gratitude for health and life.â
Festival organizers asked hospital leadership how best to honor and thank frontline workers for their integral part in serving the community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The two nurses were asked to represent Carondelet caregivers and associates who have persevered treating COVID-19 patients in Southern Arizona, as well as supporting each other since the pandemic began more than a year ago.
Premium Content
Subscriber only
Questions have been raised surrounding a young woman’s relationship with a former Child Safety officer after the woman was charged for breaching a domestic violence order involving the 49-year-old man.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty on April 22 in Rockhampton Magistrates Court to three breaches of protection orders, two fail to provide identifying particulars and one fail to appear in court.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Darrell Dalton said police were called to a motel on Gladstone Road at 1.15pm on February 20.
He said the defendant was arguing with a third party over the phone when the man tried to leave the motel room, but the defendant locked him in the room.
There s $10.5 million sitting at the state Department of Child Safety to provide cash assistance to older and former foster youth as they cope with pandemic-induced stresses.
But only a fraction of it has reached the young people it s intended for, slowed by what foster advocates call an overly cumbersome process.
To speed things up, they have been pressing for $500 direct payments to foster youth who meet the requirements of the federal pandemic relief act Congress passed in late December. There should be a direct stimulus payment from this money for the people who qualify, said Rebecca Masterson, general counsel for the nonprofit Gen Justice and the mother of a youth adopted out of foster care.
CASA of Pima County Program Supervisor Amy Brandhuber was appointed to both the National Leadership Council of the National Court Appointed Special Advocate /Guardian ad Litem Association for Children and the Urban Leadership Council.