Bailey Cooper: Mother claims mental health & education systems failed daughter after relentless bullying

While most mothers of teenage girls are helping pick out ball dresses and writing 18th birthday speeches, Dongara’s Keira Skeet is picking out her daughter’s casket and writing her eulogy. Ms Skeet’s 17-year-old daughter Bailey Cooper took her own life on April 14 after a long and arduous mental health battle and relentless bullying. “She was the kind of kid that would see an older person with a trolley and walk up and say ‘can I take that back for you?’,” her mother recounted. Ms Skeet and her eldest daughter became a “two-piece band” when Bailey was 18 months old, later welcoming her three-year-old and two-year-old daughters with the man Bailey called dad. “She absolutely adored her sisters,” Ms Skeet said. Her mother said Bailey’s mental health struggles started when she was about 10, but had particularly deteriorated in the past five years. “The last five-year journey, it was so rough but when our two beautiful girls arrived, they helped Bailey. They gave her someone to be a role model to and purpose,” she said. The day before Bailey died, she had offered to take care of her sisters so Ms Skeet could see her friends. “She said ‘No, Mum. I want to hang out with them. It’ll be fun’,” Ms Skeet said. Behind Bailey’s caring and kind exterior was a girl who was dragged through the mud, enduring ongoing bullying since the age of seven for being overweight. Her school peers taunted her every day, calling her “fat” and “ugly”. It was something Ms Skeet knew about and would talk about openly with her daughter, notifying the school to ensure it could step in when necessary. The school offered Bailey passes to step out of class if she needed to, but the bullying was happening at recess and lunch away from the eyes and ears of teachers — far away, where teachers could not hear the elephant noises made by students as Bailey walked past them in the hallway. Bailey had been to see various mental health professionals, including a psychologist and the school counsellor. Ms Skeet said Bailey viewed it as “waste of time” and felt she had been treated like a child when she was asked to draw her feelings. Paul Bridge, deputy director general of schools at the Department of Education, said “The school provided extensive support to the student and their family over several years and was devastated to learn of this loss.” Last December, Bailey made an attempt on her life at school but quickly informed her mum that she had “done something really stupid”. “You need to get me help,” Bailey told her mum. Ms Skeet took her daughter to the hospital and she was seen by the mental health support team. The pair stayed overnight and Ms Skeet said they were discharged “pretty much straight away”. “They told me to keep things like Panadol away from her. Panadol that you can buy at the supermarket,” Ms Skeet said. Beverley Hamerton, acting executive director for WA Country Health Service (WACHS) Mid West, said “We have reviewed this young person’s presentation and can confirm there is no evidence to suggest shortcomings in the care, or follow-up care, provided by our staff.” “A robust plan was also put in place post discharge to ensure the young person and their family were receiving ongoing specialist support.” This was not the first time Bailey had wished her short life away. “The first time she was about 13 or 14. And she was just having deep dark thoughts and told me that she needed to go to hospital before she did something silly. So she didn’t do anything, just told me that she was contemplating and she needed help,” Ms Skeet said. In recent years, Bailey had started to lash out at school and became physically aggressive with students who were taunting her. Bailey’s logic believed suspension was the same as getting sent home, like she usually would when she felt sad. Ms Skeet wishes the school had inflicted greater consequences on the teenagers who were bullying her daughter. “She was failed. I think she was failed by the mental health system. And by the Education Department. They should have some sort of standard policy of how to deal with someone,” Ms Skeet said. In the weeks leading up to Bailey’s death, Ms Skeet thought her daughter had turned a corner. “I actually felt like she was in a better place ... I felt like she was sort of starting to come better,” she said. Bailey had never been formally diagnosed with any mental health conditions, but Ms Skeet had made an attempt to get her daughter to see a psychiatrist after her suicide attempt in December. Bailey received a referral for a psychiatrist in January and was told they would reach out when an appointment became available. “We’re still waiting for someone to reach out for an appointment,” Ms Skeet said. WACHS says there is currently no waitlist to see mental health clinicians through the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service. Mental Health Commissioner Maureen Lewis said: “While it’s essential we continue to fund and expand support services, we all need to focus on increasing mental wellbeing to prevent mental health issues developing in the first place.” On April 14, Ms Skeet was at home alone with her two-year-old daughter and woke up to a call from Bailey’s best friend. Bailey had called her friend to say goodbye. Ms Skeet called the police as she couldn’t leave her toddler home alone. “I officially knew her fate walking down the road far enough so I could still hear the baby if she woke up. I stood at the end of the road and saw them put a bag over a body at the park,” she said. Ms Skeet describes her daughter as having “the biggest blue eyes and the biggest beaming smile; people tell me they that when they see her, they smiled”. “She would help anyone. She was smart and she was driven and she was a sponge for information and learning,” she said. “She was beautiful. I just wish that she could have seen herself through the eyes of people who actually loved her.” A GoFundMe page set up by Ms Skeet, named Bailey — Forever 17, has received almost $15,000 in donations so far. LIFELINE: 13 11 14 BEYOND BLUE: 1300 224 636