Overview
- The Department of Communities and Justice began misconduct proceedings and suspended two workers Wednesday after an internal review found serious lapses in its handling of two foster children placed with Regina Arthurell.
- Reviewers said staff screened and closed a December 23 report about Arthurell living with a child without required follow-up, which cleared the way for a second child to move into the home on March 5.
- The children were removed only after a caller alerted radio station 2GB in March, prompting an urgent departmental response, according to the review.
- The inquiry found staff accepted unverified claims about Arthurell’s condition and failed to run basic checks in the child-protection case system, and it concluded the children were not at the center of decisions.
- Arthurell, convicted of two manslaughters and a murder and paroled in 2020 after strict orders that expired in 2024, is no longer in the home, and DCJ leaders say they will strengthen safeguards as investigations continue.