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<\/p>\nQueensland Health staff missed multiple opportunities \u2014 across 15 years \u2014 to report child safety concerns about two brothers with disabilities found severely malnourished and locked in a room naked, an official probe has found.<\/p>\n
Warning: This story contains content that readers may find distressing.<\/p>\n
A 48-page report by the Queensland Ombudsman has been released on the interactions between health care workers and the siblings, known by the pseudonyms Kaleb and Jonathon, who were discovered living in squalor in May 2020.<\/p>\n
Emergency services also found their father, who was their carer, dead in the Brisbane home.<\/p>\n
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The brothers were found locked in a room. (Supplied:\u00a0Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation of People with Disability)<\/p>\n
The ombudsman’s report found Kaleb and Jonathan \u2014 who were diagnosed with “significant global development delay” and intellectual disability \u2014 missed multiple appointments with Queensland Health specialist services between 2005 and 2020.<\/p>\n
However, health workers did not always follow up on their non-attendance.<\/p>\n
Despite this, and reports to child protection services between 2000 and 2005, Queensland Health did not make any other referrals to Child Safety.<\/p>\n
The shocking case was examined by the disability royal commission to determine how and why they experienced violence, abuse, neglect, and a deprivation of human rights during their childhood and adolescence.<\/p>\n
The commission recommended that the Queensland government should apologise for omissions in preventing the harm they experienced.<\/p>\n
A formal apology was delivered in September 2023.<\/p>\n
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The royal commission recommended the Queensland government should apologise for omissions in preventing the harm the boys experienced. (Supplied:\u00a0Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation of People with Disability)<\/p>\n
The Queensland ombudsman has conducted an independent review into the powers and responsibilities of all departments and agencies that engaged with Kaleb, Jonathon, and their father.<\/p>\n
That has resulted in three reports, including one into Queensland Health, which was tabled on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
His first report in April 2025 to Education Queensland found special school staff had “almost daily interaction” with the boys during their school years.<\/p>\n
Staff noticed Kaleb and Jonathon did not always have adequate clothing or food, sometimes needed bathing because they smelled of urine and dog odour, and at times passed “rocks and pebbles” in their bowel motions.<\/a><\/p>\n The staff made notes in the education department’s information system about the brothers, but only one student protection report was submitted to the department of child safety.<\/p>\n Ombudsman Anthony Reilly’s third report found the health department wanting across a range of areas, citing limited guidance and information to staff about recognising that missed health appointments could be a sign of neglect.<\/p>\n