Mother Ana Ransfield with her son's ashes alongside the glasses he used to wear, his favourite jacket, and a container filled with bottle caps he loved collecting. Photo / Leigh-Marama McLachlan, RNZ
WARNING - This story discusses suicide
“I wish I wasn’t in this situation … I actually wish I never became an Oranga Tamariki caregiver,” a tearful woman has told courtroom during the inquest into the death of a 14-year-old boy.
Sonny Marks became unwell on New Year’s Eve in 2018 while in the woman’s foster care. He died in Hawke’s Bay Hospital the next day.
Now, a Coroner’s inquest is under way in Palmerston North to look at how he died, whether it was self-inflicted and the level of care he received in the lead-up to his death.
Sonny had been placed with a caregiver in Shannon, Horowhenua but had been staying with a relative in Rotorua over the Christmas holiday period. On New Year’s Eve he travelled to Hastings to spend the evening with his foster parents’ family.
His foster mother was an experienced caregiver who had housed many children over the years and told the inquest yesterday afternoon that it wasn’t unusual for children to return from visiting their families in a quiet mood.
“It could be because it reminds them of what they had been missing. But it can also remind them of why they can no longer live with their family,” she said.
The woman, who has interim name suppression, said that she wouldn’t describe Sonny’s behaviour as abnormal and there was nothing to suggest that he might take his own life that night.
However, she told police following his death that when Sonny arrived at the house in Hastings he seemed “off” and quiet where he was usually talkative.
She said he played in the garage with some other children before going to his room later in the evening where she found him upset and complaining of a sore stomach.
“I asked him ‘what did you do?’ And he started crying.”
Sonny then went to bed while the rest of his foster family ate dinner, after which they checked on him and found him in a bad way.
He was taken to Hawke’s Bay Hospital unresponsive in an ambulance. Staff undertook extensive resuscitation and he was transferred to ICU but failed to regain consciousness and died at 7.15am on January 1, 2019.
Coroner Matthew Bates will analyse whether Marks’ death was fact self-inflicted. He will also look at whether Sonny’s suicidal ideations were raised with his family and if they had been raised would it have affected his foster placement; what extent was the state of his mental health and well-being shared with either his birth family or his caregivers; and whether the psychiatrist who assessed him was overworked and under-supported.
A community social worker who worked closely with Sonny from 2016 to 2018 and provided advice to Oranga Tamariki told the hearing that suicide had been something the 14-year-old had raised with him multiple times.
The man, who has interim name suppression, said that these suicidal ideations increased in frequency and intensity leading up to 2018 and he relayed his concerns to Oranga Tamariki, Sonny’s social worker and to his school.
“He was beginning to feel a greater sense of hopelessness with his situation,” he said.
“My understanding in my conversations with Sonny was that feeling of hopelessness was about constantly being in care and having these emotions and negative thoughts that he was struggling to cope with.”
However, the social worker said that he’d made it clear to Oranga Tamariki that he was not a trained mental health clinician and worked with Sonny to help him find a voice and express himself.
“I’m not a psychologist or a psychiatrist… I felt that a lot of what was happening for Sonny was put on my shoulders.”
He said that he felt Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services was better-equipped to handle and make a plan to manage Sonny’s mental health needs.
“In my opinion the whole thing could have been better managed, everyone working in this space is busy and it’s easy to forget that there’s a kid at the centre who is suffering trauma,” he said.
“I think more eyes should have recognised that vulnerability… myself included.”
He said that Sonny having three separate caregivers in 2018 alone would have been difficult for him.
“If you start adding more caregiver placements then you’re building multiple layers of trauma,” he said.
“You’re not building connectedness or resilience there.”
On Monday Sonny’s mother told the inquest she didn’t believe he would intentionally take his life. She was also critical that she wasn’t told he was admitted to hospital in a critical condition and only learnt anything was wrong after his death.
“I want answers,” Ana Ransfield told a courtroom packed with her friends and family.
“I want Oranga Tamariki to answer for their failure to care for Sonny.”
Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.
Police said those involved were known to each other.