There will be a coronial inquest into the deaths of three teenagers after Queensland’s only long-term residential mental health facility for adolescents was closed.
The Deputy Coroner’s announcement on Friday was the news Justine Wilkinson, mother of Catilin Wilkinson-Whiticker, and the parents of teenagers Will Fowell and Talieha Nebauer were fighting for.
They have long argued the Barrett Centre was closed without an appropriate transition process and a recent report confirmed it was a rushed process.
Health Minister Lawrence Springborg gave five months’ notice that the centre would close in January, with families told equivalent services would be provided closer to home.
Ms Wilkinson-Whiticker left the centre, at Wacol west of Brisbane, and stayed temporarily at a number of help centres but she died in early August.
She started thinking of suicide when she was 13 and tried a few times, as had all the kids at the Barrett Centre, her mother Ms Wilkinson said.
“That’s why they were at Barrett – because the community options were not sufficient to keep them alive,” she said.
Ms Wilkinson was relieved the inquiry was happening and that it will investigate the circumstances surrounding all three deaths.
“I would just hope that the Government and Queensland Health would not ignore it like they have ignored all the parents and the major stakeholders to date,” she said.
“If they really had to close the Barrett Centre, if they really approached that in a honest and transparent way and a morally justified way, then perhaps these deaths may not have needed to occur.”
Queensland Health and Mr Springborg welcomed the report and said the Coroner’s office is independent and respected.
“I look forward to the investigation and to the findings and recommendations,” Mr Springborg said.