http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L6cpKcGCgg
I taught my son in the bath everyday from six months old. Splish splash Splish splash Splish splash Splish splash singing while I tapped the water with my hands, therefore it was singing and percussion. I did this as I was startled when he sang to Bob Marley, they weren't words but he was definitely in time and in tune.
I started him on piano everyday at seven months old...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTae101KyPA
I also taught him tamborine...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORK0gelxio0
I started drawing lessons just before he was taken off me by the department of child safety. The day they came and took him away I had bought him a childrens drum kit that morning...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo7wInwk3P0
He played it once after they dragged him out of his bed during his lunchtime nap. I think it was the first time he was ever woken from his midday nap as I was religous about Luke's siesta, the house was in silence during the day while he slept, this was easy as his mum was usually sober at this time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyUJGFOTxX0
They waited til we played that last song then they took him away screaming.
http://lukesarmy.com/pages/view-andor-download-letter-coroner
I had his first drawing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx5L0Y82mW8
hanging on his bedroom wall, This was the only time I ever swore at Luke. I intended to be forceful only when it came to drugs as I didn't want him to make the same mistake as me.
I never stopped telling how much I loved him. It would be the last thing I ever said to him...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C33jlwD6kFk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Foet07k1WNs
Luke had a jumping castle in his lounge room, it was Luke's house, and I was his servant. I always stuck to that rule.
This was Luke's lounge room...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeH3x6lnzoM
They took him away and for the last six months of Luke's life I would see him for two hours a week. I was never late, I never missed a visit. I stayed with the head of St Vincent De Paul in Cooktown to rehabilitate from drugs. This made no difference to the department of child safety. The friday before my son received a blow to the head so severe it fractured his skull, caused a blood clot, bleeding on the brain and starved his brain of oxygen, on this friday, January the ninth, my birthday, I finally had the meeting I had been waiting three months for. I was called a child abuser. Told that I had abused my son and should admit it. When I tried to object I was told I was raising my voice, handed a list of rules for future visits and told that the meeting was over. I would continue travelling four hours from cooktown to Cairns and four hours back, every week, to see my son for just two hours.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c60JBE66cwU
This "reunification team leader" who was supposed to help me get my son back, still works for the department of child safety. So does the woman who employed her, Pat Anderson.
Please ring the department of child safety North Cairns and request an audience with Pat Anderson. I did, twice in the week before that meeting, once three days later while my son lay there dieing.
I also rang the foster home, three times while my son lay there dieing.
Jo, the "reunification team leader" who was supposed to help me get my son back, knew that my son was in a house where the foster carer was 74 years old. Jo also knew that there were three older children who had a history of being abused in that house, all home from school holidays.
I also know that Pat Anderson, the woman who is supposed to care about children and set an example for her employees, Pat Anderson knows that this 74 year old foster carer has a gambling problem and brings the foster children to the club while she gambles.
Pat Anderson also knows that this 74 year old woman has a history of abusing the foster children.
Pat Anderson alson knows that this 74 year old foster carer turns a blind eye while the older kids bully the younger ones.
The 74 year old also knew that my son had received a severe knock to the head, and left him to die.
It wasn't til six hours later, after my third phone call to the 74 year old foster carer, that she finally checked on my precious little angel, and rang an ambulance.
Pat Anderson, head of the department of child safety in North Cairns, Jo the "reunification team leader", how dare you call me a bad parent when you put my son in this position.
I rang the complaints hotline of the department of child safety in Brisbane and they were horrified when I informed them of the situation, they gave me the name of the manager of the department of child safety in Cairns, Pat Anderson.
Both of you, Pat Anderson, manager of the department of child safety in North Cairns, and Jo, team leader ot the "reunification team",
PACK YOUR BAGS. YOUR TIME OF ABUSING FAMILIES AND ANSWERING TO NOONE IS OVER. I AM ONE ANGRY FATHER AND YOU DO NOT WANT ME TO COME DOWN THERE. FURTHER MORE, LUKES ARMY HAS REACHED TWO THOUSAND, AND IS GROWING BY THE HUNDREDS DAILY. YOU AND YOUR KIND HAVE INFLICTED YOUR MISERY FOR LONG ENOUGH. GET YOUR BUDDIES AND TAKE A HIKE. IT IS TIME FOR COMPASSIONATE PEOPLE TO RUN THIS DEPARTMENT, PEOPLE WHO ARE THERE TO HELP, NOT JUDGE. I MEAN IT, GET OUT YOU PARASITES OF THE UNFORTUNATE.
Written from the heart, by Luke's Dad
(That helpless innocent child and his nobody father).
Comments
I'm so sorry
Oh my god! My little boy was born just a few days before your beautiful Luke but the following year. He is now only 3 months older than when he was taken from you. My son, and his younger sister, were wrongfully taken 6 months ago and it took 5 months of fighting before having them placed with their grandparents while we sort this crap out.
I am the strongest person I know, but I have absolutely NO IDEA how you manage to keep going. Every time I see a photo of your little boy I start bawling with tears streaming down my face, as I am now. I love my daughter as well but it's my little boy who reminds me of your Luke, they look a little similar. I imagine how your son would've been at the same stage in his development as mine is now. I think of all the funny little things he does, the way he speaks, the way he pronounces some words funny. I think about how he screams when he knows I have to leave him again (I can only see him once a week) and I know that you are thinking all the same thoughts. We trudge through an empty house now, the doors to the kid's bedroom and toy room closed. We have photos up but I look down when I walk past them because it makes me cry when I see my boy's innocent face beaming back at me in one of his photos. The only consolation for me is that I know I will see him again, and eventually get him (and his sister) back.
When I think of how I would feel in your situation I want to exchange my life for Luke's so you can live happily together again. I can't imagine the pain you must feel. I feel so angry that your beautiful boy was torn from you and made to pay with his life despite him having never done anything wrong. He was the innocent party, as are all the children in DOCS. They are the prisoners made to pay for crimes they never committed.
I seriously believe that if I were in your position I would be in jail or dead or both. I cannot comprehend any other outcome. I have the utmost respect for you and what you are doing and can't fathom the massive strength you must have.
I know the next time I see my son I will burst into tears because I will remember Luke.
I wish you all the best with your cause and I honestly hope that the loss of your son was not in vain. I hope that your strength inspires, and saves others.
Please accept my honest heartfelt condolences. I wish I could ease your pain. Love to you, your family, and most of all to your beautiful son Luke. I'm so very sorry.
Thankyou for your kindness and support
I am starting to look at other kids now and think, Luke would have been almost four now. My faith in God is the only thing that has got me through.
Even if I don't make it to heaven, I am 100% sure Luke will be there. I prayed for a son for 20 years and Luke was the miracle God gave me. When he was born I dropped to my knees in the hospital and said "He's yours God, take him when your ready."
I meant I wanted him to be a preacher but God had other plans. If I have someone to thank for changing my life and giving me a chance of going to heaven, it is my little Lukey Pookey.
Thankyou once again and good luck with your fight against the harpees. Thankyou for sharing your story on Luke's site too. The more people that come forward,the more this department will be exposed for what it is, a sham.
Luke's Dad
View Luke's Dad's letter to Police and the Coroner.