The Abuse in Care inquiry will give victims a chance to tell their story. Photo / 123RF
WARNING: Distressing content
As the Abuse in Care inquiry turns its focus on foster care, victims of abuse are speaking out. This is the story of Christine and her sister.
People who were abused and neglected while in foster care will be telling their stories of surviving in the system at hearings starting on Monday.
Christine*, 24, and her younger sister grew up in foster care after their mum had to go and have mental health treatment.
She said the time in residential care was not what she expected.
"We will have our arms tied behind our backs, we were locked in our rooms for days, we would have our faces shoved into food if we didn't eat it. Things thrown at us, us being thrown, our hair being pulled out.
"I remember I used to lie there and let her [the caregiver] hurt me and let her get angry at me and yell at me, and do whatever she wanted. But I only did that because I wanted her to feel okay, I knew how hurt she felt."
She said her sister got the worst of it.
"She used to have needles shoved into her. She would be drugged a lot, because she reacted to the abuse. She tried to fight back and because of the fighting back it just got worse and worse for her."
Latest police data shows domestic violence crimes rose by 33,000 incidents between 2018 to 2020, and only 33 per cent of cases are reported.
In Christine's case, getting help was not always easy.
"I went to my teachers to try and get some help. But when I told my teachers I had to set up a meeting with my caregivers. So they knew that I had told people about the abuse that was going on.
"Because of that I definitely got a hiding on the way home and I really regret telling anybody that anything had happened".
She said it was tough to grow up without the support she needed.
"It was very confusing for a little child that grew up believing that (was) what love was.
"And I think it did take me a long time to realise that actually other people's parents don't always hurt their children the way they do, and they don't let their trauma affect their children in the same way it happened to me."
At the age of 21, Christine gave birth to her now 3-year-old daughter.
She said after all the abuse, she struggled to open to motherhood.
"A few months were really weird to me, because I had gone my whole life being dehumanised and I really had such bad anxiety by this point that I found difficult to understand that I, myself, was a decent human being."
A report from the Family Violence Death Review Committee says between 2009 and 2019, 292 deaths resulted from intimate partner violence, child abuse and neglect or family violence.
Committee chair Dr Fiona Cram said asking for help did not always mean receiving it.
"There's a lot of people ignoring calls for help, or responding to calls for help by telling people what they should be doing.
"Actually what we need is a system that when someone asks for help, response is to support them to get that help".
The "blaming culture" is a major factor in why victims are afraid to report domestic abuse, Cram said.
"Because people get blamed then they're actually seen as having to take responsibility and seek out care for themselves."
More than 10 years of abuse and violence scarred Christine for a lifetime.
"When I got to about eight or nine-ish, I did sorta completely shut off. I stopped talking, I stopped trusting people. I only really talked with children. Just because I have given so much love for someone that was abusing me every day, and it really did bring me down".
The Abuse In Case inquiry public hearing opens in Auckland this morning and will hear from both survivors and expert witnesses throughout the week.
* Name has changed to protect privacy.
