A close family friend and advocate for the mother of a five month old Christchurch baby fighting for his life says Oranga Tamariki failed the child at every turn.

Christchurch police confirmed to chrislynchemedia.com on Tuesday they were investigating after a baby was taken to hospital from a Barbadoes Street address on Monday, with “serious unexplained injuries.”

Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Johnson said “Officers are undertaking enquiries to establish how the infant came to be injured, including speaking with family members.”

The family friend told chrislynchmedia.com the baby had been on life support for three days. They said doctors told them there was a 20 percent chance the baby would not survive, and that if he regains consciousness, he will suffer permanent brain damage.

The friend said police had told those close to the family the injuries were “deliberately inflicted.” 

A doctor overseeing the baby’s care told the family friend the injuries were “consistent with the force of a 100 kilometre per hour car crash.”

“The injuries he has received, 100 percent has been done by someone, at the hands of somebody,” the family friend said recounting what police told him.

“Medical evidence doesn’t lie.”

The baby, who cannot be named, has a subdural brain bleed and fingerprint marks beneath his arms and shoulders.

The family friend, who has known the mother for around 20 years and acts as her advocate, said the tragedy was entirely preventable.

The mother, who has a learning disability, was not present when the injuries occurred they said.

Under an Oranga Tamariki safety plan, she had left the baby in the care of family members at a Barbadoes Street address while she travelled to the West Coast for the weekend.

The family friend said that “despite the safety plan being in place, no checks were carried out on the caregivers, and no home visits were conducted to ensure the environment was safe.”

“I said to the social workers, why was the child placed there if there were no safety checks done, no coordination, no home visits? And now he could die,” they said. “She couldn’t answer.”

Chris Lynch Media has seen the care plan, which outlines serious and ongoing concerns about the baby’s welfare and environment.

The family friend said they confronted the Oranga Tamariki social worker assigned to the case directly and told her the boy had been let down.

“She smirked at me. I just about told her to leave my house. I said, I absolutely feel sick. This is not the first time Oranga Tamariki has been in the headlines.”

They also questioned why Oranga Tamariki had not applied for a Section 91 order to place the baby formally in state care from birth, given the mother’s intellectual disability and the fact her older child, who lives in the North Island, is already subject to such an order.

“They said, ‘Oh, it just wasn’t necessary.’”

“This is life or death. To me it was like she was just checking her phone the whole time.”

Three people were in the house at the Barbadoes Street property over the weekend in question, the family friend said.

Police executed a search warrant at the property, which remained under police guard for a period before being returned to the occupants.

The family friend said the mother had begun sharing information with police.

Among the details she disclosed was that one of the people at the property had, on previous occasions, held and squeezed the baby’s nose when the child became upset, and that she had felt increasingly uncomfortable in that person’s presence.

They also described a phone call made from the address around the time of the incident. “The context of that conversation was, ‘you tell her to be quiet.’ Something has happened. Something has happened.”

“She said to me, ‘I followed the safety plan and this is what happened to my baby.’ And I said, ‘I know, sweetie. The system has let you down.’”

The family friend said they had since obtained copies of the safety plans from lawyers and intended to make a formal complaint about how Oranga Tamariki handled the case.

As of this morning, the baby remained on life support, breathing partially on his own.

“It could have been avoided in so many ways, so many angles,” the family friend said. “It’s just terrible.”

The same friend said speaking publicly through Chris Lynch Media was important to help the community better understand how the system had failed both the mother and the baby.

Chris Lynch Media approached police for comment asking if the baby was still on life support. A police spokeswoman said, “I can confirm there’s been no change in status.”

Oranga Tamariki has been approached for comment.