The situation
The inquest into the death of 8-year-old Elizabeth Struhs continues to surface some pretty heavy failures. Elizabeth died in January 2022 from diabetic ketoacidosis after her parents, Jason and Kerrie Struhs, stopped giving her insulin. They were part of a religious group that rejected medicine.
The failure
During the latest hearing, a child safety officer who was assigned to the family back in 2019 admitted that she didn’t stick to the required weekly check-ins. Real talk: the department was slammed with high caseloads—she was juggling around 25 to 28 kids across 15 families at the time.
She admitted that Elizabeth’s case, which involved a serious medical condition, wasn't treated with the intensity it needed. She lowkey confessed that she likely prioritized other cases involving domestic violence or drug abuse because she was “overly influenced” by the fact that the Struhs family appeared to be an “upper class” household. Adding to the vibes being off, the worker revealed she had actually asked not to be assigned to the case because her own child had previously suffered from the same medical condition, which she feared caused her to have a personal bias.
The outcome
Despite objections from specialists in Brisbane, the department closed the case after just 17 weeks, assessing Elizabeth as “safe.” We now know that was a massive L. Last year, 14 members of the religious sect—including her parents and the group leader—were convicted of manslaughter.
Why it matters
This inquest highlights how organizational pressure and subconscious bias can lead to fatal gaps in child protection. When guidelines are ignored in favor of closing files, the consequences are literal life-and-death stakes.
