FOR CHILD ABUSE VICTIMS, THE HURT GOES ON INTO ADULTHOOD

DEENA COSTER 

Last updated 05:00, April 11 2015

Fairfax NZ

Lynette West at the New Plymouths' Young People's Trust says while there's more mechanisms in place to deal with place today, waiting lists mean people are not getting the help when they need it most.

The clock ticks loudly on the wall while he talks.

While time is meant to heal wounds, it can also bring bad memories back to the surface.

"I have days when I think about it. I'll be out mowing the lawns or something and it just pops in your mind and you just can't get it out."

For this north Taranaki man, his experience of abuse while in state care at the age of 15 has cast a long, and sometimes ugly, shadow over his life.

He admits he pushed the boundaries as a youngster, experimenting with drugs and alcohol and running away from home, but the decision made by his family and social worker to put him into temporary care started him down an even darker path which he still struggled to understand.

"I was real outgoing. You couldn't stop me as a kid. Now it takes a lot to get me to go out," he said.

While the first glimpse of the New Plymouth home he was placed into in 1990 came as a "shock," by day two of his stay, he realised it was going to be very different to what he expected.

"Things started getting quite heavy."

He was the victim of a group beating, where other young people took turns kicking and punching him.

"It was not full blows, knock you out, kind of thing but it was a hiding." The bullying and intimidation continued as did 

his use of drugs and alcohol, something which was either overlooked or condoned by the caregivers.

By the time he went back home two months later, things had changed forever.

"I was pretty bent and twisted. I'd seen another side of life."

At 21, he tried to commit suicide.

"I basically just aimed my car at a power pole and put my foot down to about 100kmh."

While still affected by the injuries from the crash, he now considered himself lucky. He said at least two people he met while in care had killed themselves.

Their stories were the main reason he decided to file a historic claim against the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) for what happened to him as a teenager.

His was one of 569 claims settled by MSD between January 2004 and December 2014. According to information released under the Official Information Act by the department, there are still 1113 outstanding, with payouts so far totalling more than $8 million.

While his application resulted in an apology letter and small pay-out, the 39-year-old said it had provided him with a chance to stand up and be counted.

"It wasn't really about the money. It was about giving a voice for people who aren't able to talk."

One thing that still grates is the fact no action was taken against the people involved in his case.

Although he has the option of private prosecution, it was not something he could afford or had the energy for.

But he still gets angry, an emotion stoked especially when he sees people who were involved in his care out in the community.

"You see them and you wonder if they remember you. I'm not a small guy and stuff but I kind of feel quite small when I see them."

Life had taken a turn for the better in the past decade.

A stable partner and job meant he was able to leave behind the "rollercoaster" lifestyle he had lived previously.

However, his well thumbed file - a collection of letters and case notes about his time in care - was a reminder not only of how far he had come, but how much other people might have suffered.

"There are people out there who would have had it a hell of a lot worse than me."

For lawyer Sonja Cooper, stories like this make up the bulk of the work she manages everyday from her Wellington chambers.

She has about 600 clients on her books who have made historic claims against the state, a number she thinks will only grow.

"I think, sadly, it will be an ongoing issue."

While many of the claims settled so far by MSD related to the period between the 1960s and 1980s, this did not mean abuse complaints were confined to the past.

Cooper's youngest client is 17 but she said research suggested it took on average 22 years before a person reported abuse.

She said the issues which led to the abuse went beyond "the few rotten eggs" scenario but resulted from systemic failures.

But a royal commission inquiry, which another abuse victim Grant Mahy has started petitioning for, was not the answer, according to Cooper.

She believed an independent panel was needed instead and if set up, would go a long way to show how seriously the Government treated the issue.

"New Zealand is very good at talking the talk but not good at walking the walk," she said.

Earlier this month, Social Development Minister Anne Tolley announced a complete overhaul of Child Youth and Family (CYF), which she said was lagging behind other countries in terms of how it operated.

One who supports this move is Lynnette West, centre manager and counsellor at New Plymouth's Young People's Trust.

She said challenges CYF social workers faced, including high and complex caseloads, meant they were often too busy to spend quality time with their clients.

But she did believe there were better mechanisms in place now to deal with abuse as well as active campaigns which encouraged people to speak up.

She said there were more targeted services available to step in, but they were often at capacity and waiting lists meant people were not getting the help when they needed it most.

Another trend West had noticed with young people she worked with was their higher tolerance for hurt and harm.

"What I see here is an acceptance of abuse."

She described it as a "oh, so what" attitude which meant they were often oblivious to what was safe or risky behaviour.

"The baggage that those young people carry around is huge," she said.

A rally will be held on Saturday, April 11 at 11am outside the New Plymouth District Court as part of a world-wide protest against child abuse.

A BETTER UNDERSTANDING

Trying to break the cycle of abuse is often at the forefront of intervention with families and research often plays a big part in finding out what does, or does not, work.

Two Taranaki woman are currently involved in projects which are seeking to develop a deeper understanding of how abuse affects people and how society can learn from their experiences.

Dr Leonie Pihama has been involved in a five-year long project headed up by Te Atawhai o Te Ao, a Whanganui-based Maori research unit.

Known as mifHe Kokonga Whare: Maori Intergenerational Trauma and Healing, she said the project aimed at increasing understanding about why and how violence is used in New Zealand, with a particular emphasis on Maori society.

Pihama has also worked alongside Tu Tama Wahine o Taranaki staff to understand the impact sexual abuse has on whanau relationships.

About 70 interviews had been conducted with abuse survivors in an effort to understand what helped them recover.

Pihama said findings from the full research project will be released in October and key recommendations passed onto Government.

New Plymouth woman Tiffany Apaitia-Vague's Phd project is also focussed on how abuse victims have turned their lives around.

Her project, supervised through Massey University, looks at how people who have been involved with Child Youth and Family (CYF) view sexuality and relationships.

She said the research participants, who had spent time in CYF care, also spoke about how they managed to cope with the abuse.

"These are just not stories of trauma, they are stories of resilience," she said.

Anyone interested in being part of Apaitia-Vague's research can either visit nzstatecarestories.com or send her a private message via Facebook.

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