An overworked child safety system willing to take risks sent a girl back to her science-denying mother before her preventable death, a coroner has heard.
Child safety officers also had no formal training or procedures for tracking cases when eight-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs died, education department workers testified in Brisbane on Wednesday.
Elizabeth died on January 7, 2022, at her family's home near Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, after her parents, brother and 11 other members of "the Saints" church group gathered to pray around her.
Her father Jason Struhs had days earlier agreed to stop providing insulin for her type-1 diabetes in line with the Saints' ban on modern medicine, leading to ketoacidosis poisoning Elizabeth's blood and attacking her organs.
It came two-and-a-half years after a near-death incident, when her mother Kerrie Struhs did not seek treatment for Elizabeth.
The girl was diagnosed with diabetes and, after weeks of intensive care and against medical experts' wishes, she was returned to her family.
Queensland's Child Safety agency was not likely to change its mind about sending Elizabeth back to the family home, an education department senior guidance officer told a coronial inquest on Wednesday.
"The Department of Education is risk averse whereas the Department of Child Safety accepts some risk," the officer said.
The officer, like almost all of the witnesses due to appear at the inquest, cannot be named for legal reasons.
Child Safety specialist officers had an "incredible workload" with no formal training for incoming staff and no specific process to track their cases and aid handover, the officer said.
"I was like a duck on water - calm on the surface but paddling underneath," the officer said.
Elizabeth's father was seen as "acting protectively" towards his daughter as he did not share the Saints' religious beliefs at the time and had agreed to a diabetes management plan, the officer said.
Her mother had told a teacher "I believe we have a God that heals" when asked about Elizabeth's insulin.
The officer had reported it ahead of inter-agency Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) team meetings in July and August 2019.
"Kerrie does not believe in modern medicine," the officer told the SCAN team.
Her father would join the Saints in August 2021 after pressure from his wife while living with her in the same home as Elizabeth.
He was baptised in a makeshift backyard trough as Saints members spoke in tongues.
The inquest is due to continue until Friday next week.