given urgent medical attention. But
it’s unclear why the psychiatrist, who
the mother had told of her plans just
three days prior, had not taken her
seriously enough to act.
Custodial fathers and stepfathers
who kill have different profiles than
mothers who kill. Mental illness is
equally prevalent for this group but
they often also have a criminal history,
likely a violent one. About 43 per cent
of men – including non-custodial
fathers – who commit filicide have
previous convictions for domestic
violence. Logically, prevention
of filicide caused by these sorts of
perpetrators should be included in
domestic violence prevention and
family law policies. But no state or
federal policies or frameworks look at
filicide as a standalone issue. “There
is no national or state organisation
addressing this problem, or providing
a base from which the problem can be
addressed,” Brown points out. One
national policy, Creating Child Safe
Organisations, focuses on child safety,
but does not directly target filicide.
When approached by marieclaire, a spokesperson from the
Department of Social Services pointed
to the National Office for Child Safety
as an agency committed to protecting
children, and added that the federal
government had earmarked
$3.9 million for start-up costs
for a national child protection
information sharing system
that would allow child protection
information to be better
disseminated between
states and territories,
but did not indicate any
plans to address filicide.
Brown and other
experts say that these
piecemeal solutions that
don’t directly address
filicide aren’t enough to
bring down Australia’s shocking
number of filicide deaths. This
November, she and other experts
in child protection are chairing a
conference in Melbourne that aims
to help the community face up to
the magnitude of the problem
and pressure the government
into addressing it.She says that a National Filicide
Deaths Committee is urgently needed
to research, develop and oversee a
national prevention plan, coupled
with concerted community
awareness campaigns that mirror
other successful public safety
campaigns, such as those that have
raised the visibility of men’s violence
against women.
Multiple agencies
and organisations need
to work together to
become part of the
solution – from child
protection to medical
professionals to the
justice system. Perhaps
if something like that
had been in place back
in Folbigg’s day, she would not have
been able to take the lives of four
innocent babies.
“We desperately need national
and state action to achieve a
reduction in the deaths,” Brown
explains. “If other countries can
bring their numbers down, then
we can too.”“WE DESPERATELY
NEED NATIONAL
AND STATE
ACTION TO
ACHIEVE A
REDUCTION IN
THE DEATHS”THE WOMEN WHO KILL THEIR OWN
2010
Keli Lane, a former
Australian water polo
player, was convicted
of the 1996 murder of
her newborn baby
Tegan, though no
body has ever been
found. Lane has
always claimed she
gave the child to a
man by the name
of “Andrew Morris”
or “Andrew Norris”,
who she says was the
child’s father. She is
serving an 18-year
prison sentence and
will be eligible forparole on May 12,
2024, after serving
a period of 13 years
and five months
in custody.2014
Four-year-old Chloe
Valentine died from
at least 39 injuries
to her body after
being repeatedly
forced to ride a
50kg motorbike.
Her mother, Ashlee
Jean Polkinghorne,
filmed her crashing
into various objects
and together with herpartner, Benjamin
Robert McPartland,
failed to call an
ambulance for eight
hours after Chloe
became unconscious.
Chloe had been the
subject of more than
20 notifications
to Families SA
in her short life.
Polkinghorne, then
22, was released on
parole in May after
serving more than
five years of a seven
year jail sentence.2014
In one of Australia’s
worst mass murders,
Cairns mother Raina
Thaiday stabbed her
seven children and
her niece – four girls
and four boys aged
between 27 months
and 14 years – todeath. After being
found to suffer from
schizophrenia, she was
confined to a mental
health institution.2015
Akon Guode was
sentenced to 26 years
and six months’ jail
for killing three of
her children, twins
Hangar and Madit, 4,
and Bol, 17 months,
when she drove
them into a lake in
Melbourne’s outer
south-west. She also
pleaded guilty to theattempted murder of
daughter Alual, 5, who
survived after she was
pulled from the water.2017
A 28-year-old woman
(who can’t be named)
drowned her five-year-
old son and tried to
drown his eight-year-
old brother in NSW’s
Murray River. She
faced court in 2018
but was found not
guilty on the grounds
of undiagnosed mental
illness at the time
of the incident.(^52) | marieclaire.com.au
PHOTOGRAPHY BY AAP; FAIRFAX; GETTY IMAGES.
AUSTRALIAN REPORT
Keli Lane
Raina Thaiday
Akon Guode
Ashlee Jean
Polkinghorne