KEY POINTS:
An inquest into the death of Wairarapa schoolgirl Coral-Ellen Burrows has found errors made by Child, Youth and Family and the primary school the little girl attended.
But Wellington coroner Garry Evans stopped short of making any recommendations to CYF or the school, as both had already made key changes to their internal processes.
Mr Evans found the 6-year-old died from blunt force trauma to her head, inflicted by her stepfather Steven Williams on September 9, 2003.
Williams was sentenced to at least 17 years' imprisonment before being eligible to apply for parole.
Coral-Ellen's father, Ron Burrows, had contacted CYF in January 2003 with concerns about the well-being of his daughter and his son, Storm.
His phone call, which lasted just over 20 minutes, was not recorded or details entered into the computer system and no action was taken.
CYF national call centre manager Greg Versalko said the call-taking process had been changed and since 2005 all calls have been recorded and are archived for 17 years.
A better note-taking system had also been put into place to record details of each call and staff had increased supervision.
The coroner also heard that on the day Coral-Ellen did not appear at school, a mistake in its absentee process meant her mother was not alerted to her disappearance until after the school day was finished.
Coral-Ellen's absence was noted on the wrong day of the week on the weekly absence sheet.
South Featherston School principal Tracy Smith said as a result of Coral's death the school had replaced the weekly diary with a yearly diary, which had one page for each day.
It had also added further ways for parents to make contact with the school.
- NZPA
