Perth mother Karen Hall still unpacking her grief after the drowning of her six-year-old son Joey
Karen Hall and her daughter Jamie are still coming to terms with the death of little Joey, who drowned more than two years ago. (ABC News: Aran Hart)
In short:
Karen Hall's son Joey, who had autism and was non-verbal, climbed two fences and drowned in a neighbour's pool more than two years ago.
She and her daughter Jamie attended a Lionheart camp in an attempt to unpack their grief over the incident.
What's next?
Ms Hall wants to see a change to the laws overseeing boundary fences to ensure they can't be climbed over.
Karen Hall smiles through tears as she remembers her six-year-old son Joey Vines beaming as she gave him a bag of his favourite lollipops.
"I had gone to the shop to buy every flavour of Zappos lollies, and he was joyfully bouncing on the trampoline, flapping away in his own little world," she said.
It was March 2022, and the Perth family had just moved into their new rental home and were taking a well-deserved break waiting for removalists to deliver their furniture.
Joey, who was autistic and non-verbal, was excited.
It has been a long road for Karen Hall and her family after the tragic death of Joey more than two years ago. (ABC News: Aran Hart)
But when the removalists finally arrived, he had disappeared.
"We were like, 'okay, where's Joey?'" Ms Hall said.
She checked the backyard where Joey had been playing minutes earlier.
"We couldn't find him. All of a sudden, I had this blur and panic within," she said.
"I just knew something was wrong."
Joey's dad Steven called the police while the rest of her children went to search for him.
Ms Hall discovered there was a swimming pool in the neighbour's backyard they didn't know about.
Karen and Jamie remember little Joey, who climbed two fences before drowning in a neighbour's pool. (ABC News: Aran Hart)
"I looked over the fence and I saw the neighbours crying," she said.
"I said 'if he's in there, please just get him out'."
In the panic and realisation something bad had happened, Ms Hall broke a dividing fence to get to Joey, who was unconscious in the pool.
The fence Karen Hall broke down trying to reach her son. (Supplied)
Ms Hall followed the ambulance to the hospital – but tragically, Joey had drowned.
"They did the very best they could to save him," she said.
Journey through grief
What followed was an extremely traumatic time for the whole family.
Ms Hall said it wasn't until more than a year later when she found a support group, the Lionheart Camp for Kids, that she and her family truly began to unpack their grief.
Lionheart is a two-day camp for children aged between five and 17, and their carers, who have experienced the death of a sibling, parent, or guardian.
Karen and Jamie attended a camp to help unpack their grief over Joey. (ABC News: Aran Hart)
"All the emotions were still the same. We were all crying together sharing stories. I still talk to some of them now. And you know, it just felt like a big lift was off my shoulders," she said.
Ms Hall said she found the grieving process frustrating.
"You wonder when the grief is gonna start, when the pain's gonna stop," she said.
"It's something that we have to now learn to live with, it's not going to go away."
Her 10-year-old daughter — Joey's sister Jamie — attended the camp.
Jamie said while it was "really fun", it also helped her process her own grief.
Both Karen and Jamie have gotten a great deal of support from their grief counselling sessions. (ABC News: Aran Hart)
"I think it helped me lay out some emotions that I didn't want to let out for some people," Jamie said.
"They showed us that it's okay to have all these emotions. That's alright. You can do that. There's nothing wrong with it."
Jamie left the camp with three symbolic stones — a 'shiny' one for a happy memory, a 'smooth' one for a daily memory, and a 'rough' one for a less pleasant memory.
Jamie with one of her stones. (ABC News: Aran Hart)
Jamie said she keeps those precious stones in a bag, and they are always by her side.
"Jamie smiles all the time now," Ms Hall said.
'Joey's law'
Ms Hall said her next fight was getting a law passed that she hoped would prevent children dying in similar circumstances.
She has contacted her local member of parliament about the steps needed to introduce legislation that would standardise height restrictions on property boundary fences.
In WA, the height of dividing fences was a matter for each local government, however they cannot exceed 1.8 metres high.
The fence Joey climbed was much lower.
Joey had to jump two fences to get to the pool. (Supplied)
He had to climb two fences to reach the pool, which was removed months later.
"I just feel if the rental property had like a 1.8-metre-high fence, he wouldn't have been able to climb it," Ms Hall said.
She would call it: "Joey's Law."
'Learn to live with your broken parts'
Ms Hall said while she was still broken, it was her "babies" which kept her going on her toughest days.
"It's just learning to live with your broken parts and move forward and keeping his memory alive, you know, because he was such a young little fella," she said.
"There are so many more happy moments, even just celebrating my birthday with family and friends last week was a memory that I'll cherish forever," she said.
Ms Hall said she does still see Joey's face sometimes.
Karen says she is learning to live with her "broken parts". (ABC News: Aran Hart)
"It just comes up out of nowhere. I don't even have to close my eyes," she said.
Ms Hall said she knows that "I'm probably going to carry that for the rest of my life".
But Joey is always with her.
"We call him that angel baby now."
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