An ACT Official Visitor tasked with monitoring children in custody says he quit in disgust after his concerns about a child in foster care sleeping with a knife were dismissed by authorities.
However the Community Services Directorate said it looked at all child concern reports and foster care was outside the remit of the Official Visitors Scheme.
Bill Bashford was appointed as one of three ACT Official Visitors for children and young people in June 2016.
Official Visitors independently monitor institutions owned and operated by the ACT government, giving those in custody or care the ability to have their complaints assessed outside the arms of government.
But Mr Bashford quit in February because of serious concerns about conflicts of interest within the administration of the scheme an his complaints being "dismissed".
He said Official Visitors had to report through the directorate they were supposed to be independently monitoring and government officials tried to cap Official Visits to Bimberi to once a month, claims the Community Services Directorate denies.
The incident involving the child in foster care was not brought to his attention while conducting an official visit, but in his role as a program director for at-risk youth.
Mr Bashford allegedly witnessed the child being assaulted by their former foster father who still cared for one of the child's siblings. He later learnt the child was sleeping with a knife under their bed for both self-harm and self-protection.
Care and Protection allegedly asked the child to reconsider domestic violence orders in favour of mediation so the child could be reunited with their sibling.
Mr Bashford submitted a complaint about the handling of the affair last September and made a follow-up complaint in November.
In December, a representative from Child and Youth Protective Services finally responded and said the complaint had been handled in accordance with their internal protocols and would not share any further information with him.
"My complaints weren't getting heard, they were being dismissed. Here I am, an official visitor, telling you things and nothing is changing," Mr Bashford said.
"I'm telling you there's a child sleeping with a knife under their bed and you're telling me it's none of my business.
"I took this job on because I thought I could make our kids' lives better but I couldn't."
But a directorate spokeswoman said they were legally restricted from sharing information with Mr Bashford.
Mr Bashford said his experience is indicative of widespread problems with the way Aboriginal and child protection affairs are handled in the ACT.
He was prompted to go public after explosive allegations of violence, drug and alcohol abuse and racial abuse within the Bimberi Youth Justice Centre over the past seven years were exposed this week in the Canberra Times.
Mr Bashford visited Bimberi four times in his time as an Official Visitor and while he did not witness any of the behaviour alleged by the whistleblowers, detainees told him they "could not wait" to go to the men's jail.
Mr Bashford was also skeptical of a review under way into the Official Visitor Scheme by the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, saying it was like they were "reviewing themselves".
However a directorate spokeswoman said the review was being overseen by areas which did not "have any involvement in the day-to-day activities of Official Visitors".