Three years ago, our world changed forever when our beautiful 10-year-old daughter was brutally murdered. So disturbing is the manner in which our precious child was killed that a magistrate banned many details from being published in the media.

Our daughter was a sweet, kind, curious and intelligent little girl who was taken from us too soon. And while it’s impossible to ever articulate the impact of losing her to a violent crime has had on us, this heinous crime crushed us to the core.

We know that nothing we can ever do will bring our little girl back to us, but in her memory, we hope to help other parents of murdered children by doing what we can to increase the level of support services available their families. 

Losing a child to murder is an unspeakable tragedy that has long-lasting traumatic effects on a parent's mental health resulting in an inability to function or return to work in a functioning capacity, if at all.

However, in recent years the NSW Government made significant changes to the Victims Support Scheme, reducing financial support for family victims of serious crimes down to just $7,500. Since then, parents of murdered children are also no longer eligible for loss of income support (a maximum of $20,000) even though our capacity to earn can be significantly impacted for years.

If parents of murdered children are to survive their horrific trauma, we need the NSW Government to make changes to the Victims Support Scheme ensuring families of murdered children have access to essential support.

Currently the system fails to recognise the psychological trauma of losing a child to murder, including PTSD. To acknowledge the severity and profound trauma and loss a parent experiences when their innocent child is murdered, the NSW Government must establish a special category of recognition for the parents of murdered children who are victims too. 

We’re calling for the NSW Government to categorise parents of murdered children as victims of crime with similar rights and resources as other victims of serious crimes to ensure they receive the appropriate support and assistance they need to endure their loss as they struggle to rebuild their lives. 

Please help parents like us by signing our petition today and join us in urging the NSW Government to conduct an urgent review of the Victims Support Scheme including giving special consideration to the families of murdered children and reinstating the previous level of financial support for family victims and the parents of murdered children in their time of need.

Sincerely, 

Dom & Bek Porter, parents of a murdered child