A coroner says the case of a 12-year-old who committed suicide while in the care of Child, Youth and Family is a tragic reminder to frontline social workers.
Auckland coroner Morag McDowell says Krystal, whose surname is suppressed, was not given adequate care by Child Youth and Family before she died in 2008.
The girl was sent to a foster home after making sexual abuse allegations against other caregivers, which meant she ended up being separated from her siblings and this caused her much distress.
In findings released on Friday, Ms McDowell found that a test carried out by a social worker to gauge Krystal's psychological distress and suicide risk was miscalculated, so she did not get the help she needed.
Ms McDowell said there is a clear possibility that the girl may not have taken her own life if she'd had that help.
She found the girl's placement had a significant impact on her mental state and she was not given adequate care by Child, Youth and Family and other social workers.
The coroner said Krystal's case is a tragic reminder to frontline social workers to focus on the child's well-being, rather than the process of removal.
Opportunities missed - CYF
Child, Youth and Family on Friday said it accepts the coroner's findings and acknowledged that two of its social workers made mistakes.
The agency said its care plan was below standard and didn't provide adequate information, which resulted in not providing Krystal with enough support. The social worker who wrote that plan has since left.
CYF spokesperson Nova Salomen told Radio New Zealand's Checkpoint programme on Friday the agency accepts it made mistakes that meant opportunities to help Krystal were missed.
"It's very difficult to pinpoint the greatest error. We made a number of mistakes as an organisation and we are being held accountable for that. The tragedy is with these cases there are often not one thing that goes wrong."
Ms Salomen says Child, Youth and Family's care plan was below standard and didn't provide adequate information, so the child didn't get adequate support.
Child, Youth and Family said it has made a number of changes to its procedures since the death. The coroner has also made several recommendations to further improve services.
