Vic: Inquiry will see if child protection system failing, Bracks

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Vic: Inquiry will see if child protection system failing, Bracks

Victorian Premier STEVE BRACKS says an inquiry into the deaths of four children fromthe one family will determine whether the state's child protection system is failing.

The children -- aged between two months and three years -- died between 1998 and this year.

But their deaths failed to ring alarm bells among authorities until the fourth childdied in April this year.

Mr BRACKS says he's given police chief commissioner CHRISTINE NIXON, the Departmentof Human Services and the state coroner four weeks to report back on the matter.

Mr BRACKS has told reporters he wants to know whether the child protection system isworking effectively.

The homicide squad is investigating the case and the DHS has removed the Geelong family'soldest child, a six-year-old boy, from his parents' care.

Meanwhile, the DHS has defended its role in the case, saying it has no legal requirementto make links between deaths of children who aren't in its care.

However the department had been notified by the coroner after each child had died.

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KEYWORD: CHILDREN BRACKS (MELBOURNE)