THE mother of an autistic teenager who drowned while in state care says her son would be alive today if he’d been given the appropriate level of care.

Coroner Glenn Hay yesterday handed down his findings into the deaths of Jackson Kelty, 17, and his carer Brendan William Dermody, 28, at Clifton Beach in March 2008.

He found the pair had most likely drowned after entering the surf during adverse weather conditions.

While holding no one person responsible for the deaths, he said the Department of Health and Human Services did not at the time have adequate systems in place to manage risks to children in care and to ensure adequate support for carers.

Jackson’s mother Peta Kelty welcomed the findings and said no mother should have to go through what she had.

“Everything I’ve said all along has been proven to be true,” she said.

“As a mother I can’t help but feel that my son was let down.

“The bottom line is that two people died in this accident and it was an accident that shouldn’t have occurred.”

She said it was clear to her what could have prevented her son’s death.

“Two carers, adequate safety procedures, an understanding of autism. If the carers had been provided with any of those things then I think Jackson would still have been alive today.”

Mr Hay said he was unable to determine the exact causes of death, but it was most likely both had drowned.

The only witness was a seven-year-old autistic boy who cannot speak.

Bones later identified as those of Jackson washed up on the beach, as did bones suspected to be of Mr Dermody.

Mr Hay said Mr Dermody had been left on his own to care for two children with a history of challenging behaviours because of a staff shortage caused by illness.

“Both Jackson and [the other boy] had special and peculiar needs in environments outside the home and in my view the carers were not provided with sufficient nor specific training to suit those peculiar needs, whether it be in assessing risks to the children, the carers or the public,” he said.

He said there was no evidence the Department of Health and Human Services responded appropriately to incident reports about difficult behaviour by the boys.

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