EXTRACT ONE - Letter 15/Oct/98 from Department of Community Services

I'm copying the following section form the letter received by us from Pauline Rockley on October 15.  This part is the "notification" made in Early September.   (21 Sept is early? Is that another hint?)

The Department received a further notification in early September 1998 alleging that:

1. Adam looked like skin and bone.
2. Adam was bed entirely on breast milk, with no supplementary solids.
3. Adam's eyes appeared sunken and he looked malnourished.
4. Adam screamed constantly because he was hungry.
5. Adam's mother would not take him to the baby health clinic because they felt the clinic had overreacted by referring Adam to a paediatrician.
6. Adam's parents had been recommended to feed him on solids on medical grounds, but had refused to do so.
7. Adam had had a gash on his head which looked like a bite mark.  The mark had healed over and appeared indented like a scar.
8. Adam's mother suffered from depression and his natural father from manic depression.
9. Both Adam's parents were highly educated and his mother had been a science teacher.  They read lots of parenting books and took advice in them "literally" eg. if a book said breast feeding was best, they took this to mean "breast feeding only."
10. The grounds of the home were overgrown, and the child was always dressed in jumpsuits, no matter what the weather.

I'm not going to even link the original complaint that we obtained from DoCS on the night of 21 September.  If you are a smart Netizen you'll know where to find it, then you'll also know how to compare these documents and draw your own conclusions. HAVE YOUR SAY

Further two paragraphs lower it states:

"The Department is satisfied that the concerns expressed in points 1-7 and 10 have been addressed by the parents' visit to Dr. xxxxxx and by their agreement to follow his advice and see him again."

I'd just like to comment that Dr. X's advice was mostly our suggestion and his agreement to the options we presented.  He offered additional suggestions when I asked what other things might be suitable.  Again you can see the notes on the web site.

There is more, but I can't yet release that detail until I have spoken with Marina, who I've been trying to contact, but she must be taking a well deserved break.

Keep watching the site and let us know what you think.