Vol. Two: Causes and contributing factors
Survivors described a range of factors they considered caused or contributed to their abuse. Broadly, they fell into two categories – factors within the State’s control and factors within individual institutions’ control. Specific factors included inadequate monitoring and support, lack of processes for dealing with disclosures, and poor vetting, supervision and management of staff. Taken together, the result was a general acceptance of abuse, making it hard for survivors to report their abusers. That said, some survivors reported positive experiences while in care.
Limited monitoring
Some survivors mentioned getting little or no monitoring. Some said the lack of effective monitoring of care placements and the failure to hold adults to account for their behaviour helped make possible the abuse they suffered. They said monitoring was inadequate even if social workers made visits to check up on them. One described how a social worker visited her for a time, but spoke only to her carer – her abuser – so the abuse continued:
“They checked in with [the carer], had a chat and then left and not really talked to the kids … Pretty casual, yeah, but they seemed like they didn’t really care. It was just, ‘I’m doing my job’.”
STEPHANIE, EUROPEAN, 32
Some survivors spoke of running away from homes and institutions as a way of coping with unbearable situations, including abuse. Often the State failed to investigate why individuals were running away. Some would run away to family members or friends, while others would have no one to go to and had only themselves to rely on. Some got into trouble, were caught by police and returned to State care. Some went to a new place, where they may or may not have been abused, while others were returned to the place from which they had run away, only for the abuse to resume:
“This is how much CYFS and my family have fucking failed my wellbeing and traumatised [me] because the fact is, they never checked on me, no one sat down with me to see what’s going on, why am I playing up, why have I been doing all these things or hurting myself. Maybe if they found the right person to have a one-on-one with me.”
MARY, MĀORI, 35
Lack of disclosure processes
No survivors mentioned any specific steps or processes they were told to follow if they had concerns or were troubled about their carers or aspects of their care. Some said they had approached an adult or staff member but were not taken seriously:
“Yes, someone that you could actually go and talk to, that, you know, like, if you had a problem, instead of going to a different staff member every time – and most of them would just shrug you off anyway.”
DARREN, UNDISCLOSED ETHNICITY, 56
Many survivors said they had no one to talk to about the abuse, and this, they said, was one of the practical factors that made abuse possible. They felt the adults who were supposed to be concerned for their safety and wellbeing either failed to take their disclosures seriously, punished them for any disclosures they made, or were their abusers. As a result, they had no direct contact with safe adults to whom they could disclose their abuse:
“At the time I didn’t know what to do or who to tell that would believe me. I was young and scared.”
GREGORY, MĀORI, 43
Some survivors said they learned about attempts to conceal abuse. One survivor, abused by staff at a children’s home, said other staff noticed the abuse and lost their jobs for speaking out. She recalled later meeting a dismissed staff member:
“I asked… ‘What happened to you working at [children’s home]? Oh, you know that complaint we made, how you got hit?’ And I go, ‘Yeah’. And they go, ‘Yeah, well, we lost our job because of it’.”
MARY, MĀORI, 35
This same survivor said individuals were subjected to further restrictions to limit the possibility that they might disclose the abuse:
“They wouldn’t even let me ring my mum, go home for a weekend, that’s how nasty they were … They wouldn’t even let me ring my social workers.”
MARY, MĀORI, 35
Management of staff
Survivors often mentioned poor management of staff, including the vetting, training and supervision of staff at institutions and foster carers and adoptive parents. Some said no formal process existed for appointing carers or staff at State or faith-based institutions. They said it seemed almost anyone could get a job at these institutions, including those with a possible history of abuse:
“The officers all knew what was going on. It was like a game to them. Really, when you havea look at them, the officers, they’re just ordinary people that were down the pub one day and then they get a job at [boys’ home]. They came out there, they’re not trained for anything. They knock you about just like that’s how they handle their kids at home.”
MICHAEL, MĀORI, 59
Many survivors didn’t specifically discuss staff vetting processes, but the fact survivors encountered so many abusers in so many placements and settings strongly suggests these processes were inadequate.
Survivors also frequently mentioned a lack of training and supervision and poor staff performance in looking after their wellbeing. Several talked about carers who would allow children to behave in harmful ways, such as permitting them to get alcohol and drugs, disclosing private information about peers, and encouraging violence between peers. One survivor said carers at a youth facility actively encouraged drug use and violence:
“They’d bring us in weed, get stoned with us … they couldn’t touch us so they’d get us to go and smash someone up that was being an asshole … So they’ll give us some weed and tell us to go waste them and we’d happily do it, you know. Who wouldn’t, for that?”
JULIA, MĀORI, 28
Some said they had positive experiences with their social workers. One survivor recalled.
“I remember the lady that was looking after me… she was the social worker. Beautiful lady. I’m not sure if her caseloads were overloaded or not, but what attention I did get, I felt safe.”
JOHN, MĀORI-EUROPEAN, 52
Positive experiences in care
Seventeen survivors spoke in positive terms about aspects of their experiences in care. They said they felt loved and cared for, and felt their social worker worked to keep them safe. One described a great sense of belonging when she was moved to a children’s home:
“Awesome. They were awesome. That was the first place where I felt a bit like I belonged.”
NICOLA, MĀORI, 60
Whether the experience of care was positive or negative did not necessarily depend solely on where a survivor was placed.
Some survivors described positive relationships with carers in placements that were abusive. One survivor, who was placed in a boys’ home where staff and peers perpetrated many forms of abuse, said he came across some individuals who genuinely cared for the boys:
“They’d take whatever they wanted off you and it seemed like the staff just didn’t care or do anything about it ... We had a couple of lady staff there that – some of them were caring – to feel nurtured and that. I can still see them, actually.”