Two sisters who sued the state of New South Wales for failing to protect them from their abusive stepfather have been awarded almost $1.5 million in damages after an eight-year battle for compensation.
The women, known as TB and DC, were repeatedly raped and indecently assaulted by their stepfather when they were children in the 1970s and 1980s.
The payout marks the end of a long legal battle for the sisters, which began in 2008 when they sued the state and their former community services case worker for negligence in the NSW Supreme Court.
They claimed that despite knowing about the abuse and documenting their complaints, both the Department of Community Services (DOCS) and the officer did not report it to the police. They alleged that had the abuse been reported, they would have been protected from further abuse.
The former case worker, Carolyn Quinn, is now a high-profile child protection consultant and a former member of the NSW Carers Advisory Council.
Last year, the sisters lost their initial claim, with Justice D ruling that while the department had failed in its duty of care to report the abuse, he did not accept that the abuse continued after DOCS was first notified in 1983.
Justice Campbell ruled Ms Quinn did not owe the girls a duty of care and even if she had, she had fulfilled that duty by reporting the abuse to her superiors.
MOTHER'S NIGHTMARE: Mum who let her two kids sleep in her bed has them taken away and put up for adoption
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Category: Child Protection UK media and newspaper articles
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Created: Monday, 13 February 2017 22:11
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Written by Guy Birchall - The Sun UK
Social workers raised concerns about the boys, both aged under four, after they spotted bruising on the lads'.
A MUM who let her two kids sleep in her bed has had them taken off her and put up for adoption by a judge.
Social workers raised concerns about the boys, both aged under four, after they spotted bruising on the lads. A mum who allowed her two young boys to sleep in the same bed as her has had them removed from her care. Judge Peter Greene said the children’s mother had failed to act on advice about “co-sleeping” from childcare professionals and disregarded advice about feeding.
Judge Greene said proceedings began after the older boy’s leg was bruised when he was a few months old. The judge had concluded that the bruising had been “inflicted by the (boys’ father) but unintentionally as a result of using excessive force”. He had also concluded that the boys’ mother was “was ignoring advice against co-sleeping”. Social workers had been told to supervise and support the family. Professionals had then become concerned about the younger boy. Checks revealed bruises and a broken wrist when he was months old.
Families involved in care and protection matters will now be referred to access early legal advice, under a new partnership between the NSW Government and legal agencies aimed at reducing the over-representation of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care. 
The state government has ordered an immediate review of out-of-home care services for children in NSW following claims that two boys were left hungry and too cold to go to school this year while their care provider sought thousands of dollars a day to look after them.
