The former foster carers of an eight-month-old baby girl who died just days after being returned to her biological parents say the system designed to protect her failed.
Rebecca and Michael always knew they would be foster parents.
Rebecca said baby Mia came into their care as a newborn.
Medical notes seen by the ABC noted that Mia, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, had signs of "traumatic injury" including bruising.
For six months, baby Mia was raised by the pair, but under an Interim Accommodation Order with Child Protection, Mia would spend four hours, five days a week with her biological parents, as part of supervised visitation.
The pair said during that time, court dates aimed to determine future arrangements for Mia were constantly adjourned.
The pair said the magistrate aimed to get the child sent back to her biological parents.
The court ordered a third party, Tweddle, a statewide Early Parenting Centre, to provide an assessment of the biological parents to see if they were capable of caring for the baby.
Three days after Mia was returned to her biological parents, emergency services were called to their Ballarat home and found the eight-month-old unresponsive.
Victoria Police said CPR was administered before she was taken to a local hospital just after 1pm on September 20.
Michael and Rebecca had at first been told by a friend who read a media report that a baby had been injured.
Children and Family Service CEO Wendy Sturgess said the death had been an incident for the entire community.