The mother of a man who acquired unexplained bruises while living in disability housing was told to make a freedom of information request to see the subsequent report, an inquiry has been told.
Adelaide woman Karen Rogers gave evidence at a hearing of the Disability Royal Commission on Tuesday about two separate occasions when she discovered bruises on her son Daniel.
The most serious occurred in February 2019 when a support worker phoned to say Daniel had a "large bruise on his back", Ms Rogers told commissioners.
A doctor recommended he go to hospital to check the bruise, stretching from his spine to his kidney, was not caused by internal bleeding.
This was found not to be the case, and in the days that followed Ms Rogers decided Daniel should stay with her and her husband.
"Daniel seemed to be traumatised, he was very unsettled at night and if we mentioned (the disability home) in a conversation, he became very distressed and he would start hitting himself in the head," Ms Rogers said.
An official at the Department of Human Services (DHS) advised her to make a complaint to police, who launched an investigation.
Daniel is 40 years old and lives with autism, epilepsy and intellectual disability, the hearing was told.
He has limited speech, and was unable to give a police statement.
After officers visited his former home and interviewed staff, police advised they could not take the matter further and the DHS began its own investigation, the hearing was told.
The department's incident management unit never sought to interview Ms Rogers or her son, she said.
More than a year after the bruises were discovered she sought a meeting with the unit's director, Stewart Dodd.
"Stewart told me the DHS investigation was inconclusive and he was unable to provide a copy of the report to me," Ms Rogers told the hearing.
"Stewart said if I wanted to see a copy of the report, I would need to make a freedom of information application."
Staff believed the injury occurred outside the home, but no one could come to a determination, the Department's Wayne Cunningham told the hearing.
Daniel is now "very happy" after a period of readjustment, but still reacts negatively to anything to do with the disability home, Ms Rogers said.
"I still feel there are answers out there and I still would like to know what happened. I guess we're never going to know," she said.
The Disability Royal Commission is holding a week-long hearing in Adelaide.
Australian Associated Press
