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QLD Police are investigating the death of a baby boy in central Queensland earlier in the week.

The Yeppoon boy, believed to be six months old, died in Rockhampton Hospital on Monday, reports 9 News.

A police spokesman said the boy’s death is being investigated and the Seven Network has reported his family home has been placed under police guard.

UPDATE 10 March

Police are continuing to investigate what happened to the baby boy just weeks after concerns for his safety were raised with the Queensland Department of Child Safety.

The six-month-old was rushed to the Yeppoon hospital, in central Queensland, in an ambulance on Sunday night, but died on Monday after he was transferred to the Rockhampton Base Hospital, reports ABC news.

Police declared a crime scene at a Yeppoon home earlier this week and kept it guarded for three days while forensic officers examined the property.

Queensland’s Minister for Child Safety, Shannon Fentiman, said an anonymous notification about the boy’s family was received in January, and checks were carried out.

“Action was taken immediately after Child Safety was made aware of some concerns about the health and wellbeing of this family, that included working with police and interviewing staff at a childcare centre,” Ms Fentiman said.

“I understand this baby boy was also routinely seen by his family doctor.

“Let’s let the police do their job, let’s find out what happened in this case. This is a tragedy and our hearts go out to the family of this little boy.”

She said two other children from the household were safe.

“This was a family that was known to Child Safety,” Ms Fentiman said.

“There were a number of checks performed to assess the risk of this child.”

Ms Fentiman acknowledged that her department’s case load was still too high, but was improving.

“I know central Queensland received 11 new staff. Most of them are in place,” she said.

“The latest data that we released does show that we are turning a corner in terms of investigation and assessment timeframes.”

The Opposition’s spokeswoman for child safety, Ros Bates, said the case showed the Child Safety Department was not functioning properly.

“This six-month-old baby who died at Yeppoon was missed by Child Safety officers despite the concerns that had been raised in January of this year,” Ms Bates said.

She also criticised the lack of progress in the department since the review into the death of Caboolture toddler Mason Jet Lee.

“Rockhampton is in a worse state than Caboolture and the staff are stretched to the limits, so we have not learned any lessons since the death of Mason Jet Lee nine months ago,” Ms Bates said.

“We’re still waiting for the report on four reviews that were done on this little boy. The same thing has happened at Rockhampton.”

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  • you would think that this whole system would save these kids but things like this still happen

    Reply

  • so sad. Child protection victoroa did nothing wheni called them and made a report about a mother beating her child.

    Reply

  • I don’t believe there was any advantage in this article while waiting for more details.

    Reply

  • Very sad to hear of the loss of the little one R.I.P.

    Reply

  • So sad no matter what the circumstances.

    Reply

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