Questions raised over why Education Department didn’t intervene to help starving Floreat ballerina

Department of Education home schooling evaluators failed to notice a Floreat teenager withering away to skin and bones over years of visits to her luxury residence — and have been accused of letting her down. The case of the so-called starving ballerina has raised questions as to how the only child — living in one of Perth’s most affluent suburbs — could have been allowed to become life-threateningly emaciated. She was home schooled through primary and secondary studies, and visited annually by moderators, who evaluated her program and progress. Those close to the situation, including a dance teacher who raised the alarm with the Department of Communities through Perth Children’s Hospital, are now asking why the moderators did not blow the whistle years earlier. Tania Shillington said the vegan girl was “tiny” when she met her in 2017 and was incorrectly told she was 11, when she was in fact 13. Ms Shillington began raising concerns with the parents in 2019, worried that cancer or some other dreadful disease might explain why she was so painfully thin. “They just denied, denied, denied and then became quite aggressive . . . rude,” Ms Shillington told The West Australian. “My business partner and I kept saying ‘we’re actually only doing this out of care and concern for your child’.” A different dance teacher also alerted Communities, which opened an investigation in late 2020 and spent the next four months trying to get the parents to take her to a doctor before forcing their hand in early 2021. Ms Shillington said she had to battle to get someone to listen. “I did try to ring School of Isolated and Distance Education once and I didn’t even get past reception, because of confidentiality,” she said. “The Education Department, I think they let this child down.” Asked if it had launched an investigation into the matter, the Department of Education said it could not provide specific details regarding individual cases. The West asked the State Government if the girl was failed by education authorities, and also whether laws that compel certain professions — including teachers and Communities officers — to report a belief of child sexual abuse should be expanded to other forms of abuse. A spokeswoman responded: “The safety and wellbeing of children is the State Government’s highest priority. Anyone who is concerned about a child experiencing abuse or neglect is encouraged to report their concerns to the Department of Communities or WA Police. “The majority of human services professions have existing reporting policies and procedures in place to report concerns about the safety or wellbeing of a child to Communities or WA Police.” Opposition leader Libby Mettam said there were missed opportunities to detect the girl’s abuse sooner. “This tragic case raises the question as to why the alarm had not been raised earlier by government officials,” Ms Mettam said. “Given a dance teacher had raised issues . . . there is an obligation to better understand why the same red flags were not raised by the Education Department or Child Protection.” The parents were convicted under a section of the Children and Community Service Act that an estimated 113 people have fallen foul of since it was enacted in 2004 — an average of less than six people over each of those 20 years. They are believed to be the first convicted on grounds the child was emotionally, socially and developmentally infantilised. But a 2017 Department of Education letter said the girl’s “community and social connections remain strong”. The pair were also convicted for failing to provide adequate nutrition and prompt medical care.