Child asylum seekers harming themselves

20 Feb 2013, 9:18 am   -   Source: AAP
Share This
0 
+ Comment
4
The incident report details 26 cases of children harming themselves between August 2010 and November 2011 in the Darwin Airport Lodge and the Botanic Apartments. (AAP)

The incident report details 26 cases of children harming themselves between August 2010 and November 2011 in the Darwin Airport Lodge and the Botanic Apartments. (AAP)

An immigration department report reveals 26 cases of children harming themselves in Darwin detention centres in 16 months over 2010-11.

RELATED

A nine-year-old boy who overdosed on medication is among 26 cases of self-harming by children at asylum seeker detention centres in Darwin in a 16-month period, immigration department records have revealed.

The documents, which were obtained under Freedom of Information laws, tell of a 10-year-old boy who cut his arm with glass and a 17-year-old who tried to hang himself.

The nine-year-old boy who took an overdose of painkillers later told staff that he was "going crazy in detention".

The incident report details 26 cases of children harming themselves between August 2010 and November 2011 in the Darwin Airport Lodge and the Botanic Apartments.

Fernanda Dahlstrom, from the Darwin Asylum Seeker Support and Advocacy Network, who made the FOI request, said the cases showed children in detention were experiencing significant trauma.

"These documents concern one detention centre over a relatively short period of time," she said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Children detained in other detention centres are likely to have gone through the same trauma as these children."

A spokesman for the immigration department said self-harm rates at immigration facilities decreased significantly in 2012 compared to 2011.

This was largely down to better mental health training for staff and the introduction of bridging visas and community detention options for would-be refugees.

"Sadly these things do happen from time to time," the spokesman told AAP.

"We do what we can to manage as best as possible by providing appropriate psychological support where it's needed."

* Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for young people aged 5 to 25)

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube

Your Comments

uninformed nasty commentators

frederika steen - from Brisbane, 3 months ago

Is there no monitoring of comments - viz the 3 above? They defile yor webste and denegrate human rights ... It shames us as Australians that we lock up innocent children and rob them of their childhood, and cannot keep them safe while doing so. Immigration adminstrative detention of children is systemic child abuse by the State. STOP IT NOW.

Stand over tactics

Shaz - from Aus, 3 months ago

Decrease in self-harm is not due to better mental health training.. it is because Serco and Diac bribing the illegals with more spending money etc. phone cards, home visits, outtings etc..Are these childre going on 40s? They're coached by their parents and peers to self-harm to achieve a desired outcome. This government is spending big on illegals, and every detention service providers is dodgy and making huge money. This will hopefully stop on September 14 when Gillard and ALP vacate swiftly.

one question please

James Hadad - from Shellharbour, 3 months ago

Where are all these children getting the cold hard cash to pay people smugglers to bring them here in the first place ?

hurting themselves?

Pero - from Bankstown, 3 months ago

SO WHAT? my kids are hurting themselves all the time. It's fortunate that these illegal pawns are supervised.

Join the Discussion

Name
City / Suburb E.g. Artarmon, Sydney
Title
Comment
You have characters remaining.
Validation
What's this?
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.
All submitted comments become the property of SBS. They are moderated, so we reserve the right to edit comments and remove HTML tags. Not all submitted comments will be published. Publication does not mean we endorse the opinions expressed. Please read our terms and conditions for more information.