KEY POINTS:
A social worker has quit after a 12-year-old Northland girl in Child Youth and Family care took her own life.
Krystal Repia was found dead by her 7-year-old sister a fortnight ago, a month after CYF removed her from her foster family in Kaikohe.
Police are investigating a complaint laid by Krystal against a caregiver, but in the meantime the Herald on Sunday understands the CYF social worker at the centre of the controversy has resigned after being taken to task by his superiors for not responding immediately when told of the allegations.
Sources close to the case say the CYF worker had doubts about the veracity of the complaint and he made a judgment call not to take the matter any further.
The foster family also completely denies the allegations.
However, Krystal's relatives believe had the CYF's social worker followed protocol, the 12-year-old would be alive today.
Krystal, a Kaikohe Intermediate School student, and her seven siblings were taken into CYF care two years ago after their mother was jailed on drugs charges.
The girl's father was granted regular supervised access with Krystal and in early August he telephoned CYF to lodge a formal complaint on behalf of his daughter.
CYF's usual protocol in cases like this would be to immediately remove the child from the home of their caregivers.
But in this case the social worker decided not to follow up on the complaint as he was suspicious it was simply a ploy by the girl's father to discredit his daughter's foster parents.
Three days later he complained again to CYF and this time he also notified police and his local MP.
The following day CYF removed all of the children, ranging in age from four to 14, from the home of their caregivers.
However, the difficulty for CYF was trying to accommodate all the children together so Krystal and her 7-year-old sister ended up in Auckland, separated from their siblings.
Her father claims it was the distress of this and the earlier complaint that tipped his daughter over the edge.
The girl's caregivers declined to speak to the Herald on Sunday, but wider family members said the couple were fine upstanding church members who had opened their home to Krystal and her brothers and sisters when they had nowhere else to go. The allegations, they said, were a complete fabrication.
CYF refused to answer specific questions about the case, saying that while it was committed to "being publicly accountable and transparent" it did not want to compromise the police investigation or subsequent Coroner's hearing.
It also would not say whether the social worker had resigned voluntarily or had been sacked, nor would it disclose what formal qualifications he held or whether he had been the subject of any other complaints.
Spokeswoman Lorraine Williams did, however, confirm it was looking into its practices around the case and involvement with the family to see "what, if anything, could have been done better".
She said CYF was continuing to work with the family to identify whanau caregivers for the remaining seven children. It is understood they are likely to be placed with family in Australia.
Krystal's school principal Phil Gordon said students were still struggling to come to terms with her death.
