The death of Dean Shillingsworth - Critical challenges in the context of reforms to the child protection system - Special report to Parliament - December 2009

Dean Shillingsworth's body was found in a public reserve in Sydney on 17 October 2007. His mother was subsequently charged with his murder. She pleaded guilty on 18 August 2009 and was sentenced on 9 December 2009. Following a review of records held by DoCS we commenced our investigation into the adequacy of the actions taken by DoCS in responding to concerns about the safety and welfare of Dean and his siblings. This investigation was later expanded to include consideration of the actions of a non-government family support service in providing a service to the mother and her children. This report made no findings about the mother because this is not our role. Our focus has been solely on the response by involved agencies, based on their evidence of what their staff saw, heard and did.