"Suicide of teenage girl in Sydney community care to be investigated"
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- Category: Uncategorised
- Created: Thursday, 08 August 2013 23:30
- Written by Joanna Woodburn
An investigation will be held into the death of a teenage girl who died in community care in Sydney's west.
The 14-year-old committed suicide yesterday morning.
The New South Wales Opposition had raised concerns that the girl had been left unsupervised when the support service - the Cabramatta Street Team - was replaced by a regional adolescent response team in June.
Opposition community services spokeswoman Linda Burney said an investigation into the death was needed.
New South Wales Community Services Minister Pru Goward has lashed out at the Opposition's claims.
"There will be always investigations into deaths like this and this is no exception, but the facts are clear already," she said.
"For the Opposition to suggest that her death was the result of reforms we've made to adolescent teen care is outrageous and dishonest."
Ms Goward branded the accusations ghoulish and said the team was not shut down but replaced by an adolescent response unit which offers assistance to more young people.
She says the teenager had not been abandoned and had been receiving 24-hour care.
"This girl was in a residential facility," she said.
"So far from her case being closed, this girl was being supervised in a 24-hour-a-day way.
"So there is absolutely no right on the part of the Opposition to make up the facts and make up claims."
