Paid $25,000 and told to stay silent | Stuff.co.nz

Paid $25,000 and told to stay silent

JOHN SELKIRK/The Dominion Post

Tracie Nichols outside the former girls' home in Hamilton where she was abused.

EXCLUSIVE: A woman dying of anorexia was paid hush money by Child Youth and Family after accusing one of their managers of molesting her in a state-run girls home. 

Hamilton woman Tracie Nichols, 33, says she was abused and betrayed by the CYF manager, who was paid to keep her safe. She was in the Hamilton Girls Home to escape a serial paedophile who had earlier abused her.

A confidentiality clause in the $25,000 settlement - made two years ago - silenced her from talking about the manager's abuse.

CYF historic claims manager Garth Young told The Dominion Post that the agency had apologised to Ms Nichols for the abuse. CYF also confirmed it would not pursue her for breaching the confidentially clause attached to her secret payout.

Mr Young said confidentiality clauses were "standard legal procedure" two years ago but would not be used today.

"We have learnt a lot ... we do not want claimants to believe that we are restricting their ability to speak about what happened to them.

"We know that claimants want to be heard; they want an acknowledgement of what happened to them."

However, the abuse by the CYF manager was only one in a series of blunders made by the agency in its care of Ms Nichols.

She was made a state ward at the age of 12, when she complained of abuse by a man who subsequently confessed to CYF. The agency also knew he was a serial paedophile because he admitted to preying on other children.

But - within a year of becoming a state ward - Ms Nichols had been placed in a foster home where the abuser was able to get at her again.

At the time, CYF described the blunder as "regrettable".

When she was 14, Ms Nichols was put in Hamilton Girls Home to escape the serial paedophile. It was here the CYF manager of the home abused her over about six months. He has since died.

Documents obtained by The Dominion Post show that, also while in the home, CYF planned an experiment of secretly "stepping up" contact between Ms Nichols and her first abuser.

"Tracie is not aware that this will be happening," the documents said.

In 2001, Ms Nichols complained to CYF of her abuse by the manager and asked why police had not been told of a complaint she made while resident in the home.

CYF, at the time, said her complaint was "extremely serious" and it would be pursued in "an open professional manner".

But, in 2005, CYF said it wanted the complaint settled secretly. It denied all liability but paid $25,000 to settle.

Ms Nichols' aunt and spokeswoman, Lisa Kenny, has criticised the confidential CYF settlement.

"For abuse to carry on, it has to be hushed up. By hushing it up they were being perpetrators of it," Ms Kenny said.

"They tried to cover it up and shut my niece up."

Ms Kenny was abused by the same serial paedophile who first molested Ms Nichol. He was convicted in 1998 of abusing them when they were children and was sentenced to periodic detention. The Dominion Post, with the consent of the two women, has successfully applied to lift a court order suppressing their identities.

Ms Kenny says Ms Nichols is anorexic and doctors have said she will die. Both women believe sexual abuse is the cause of the disease.

The Ministry of Social Development now has a Historic Claims Unit and Mr Young urged anyone else with allegations of abuse to make contact.

"It is extremely important to get this right. Not only to protect the rights of claimants, but to ensure that the rights of those subject to allegations is respected," he said.

- The Dominion Post