But within a few weeks, the caregivers' behaviour changed.
She and her siblings would suffer daily beatings, being punched in the face and hit with anything the caregiver could get their hands on.
"I remember being hit repetitively with the vacuum cleaner cord because I wasn't 'vacuuming the floor like an adult'. That beating left scars that I still have."
The siblings were aged between 2 and 10 when their parents, who had relationship issues, separated in 1996 and they were put in state care.
"They were really good to us kids but just not to each other," AG said of her parents.
The children say they were left in the "care of a monster", forced to act as servants and stripped of their cultural background.
"We were a source of money and labour for our caregiver, we lost our identity and felt invisible to everyone, including the social workers."
Counsel for the witness said a social worker checked in on the Wharves household after reports of abuse, but left without removing the children.
In documents provided to the hearing from the time Wharve admitted to the social worker to giving the children "a good whack" and how it was necessary to growl, boot them and shove them.
After four years of abuse and torture under the Wharves' guardianship, the siblings were separated and moved to other state care homes.
AG was taken to live with another family, where she faced ongoing sexual abuse.
"One day when the mother and children were out, the father took me into the lounge and made me perform sexual acts on him.
"I hated it, it was just so wrong."
She said she used to ask to go with the mother to avoid the abuse she suffered, but the kids and mother used to accuse her of attention-seeking and would leave her with the father.
"They had no idea what was going on when they left me at home."
AG's only brother, known in the hearing as AL, was soon taken to Kokiri (Māori housing support) where he faced more neglect.
"I didn't know what depression was, I thought it was normal to have those feelings and to be so standoffish.
"I used to walk down a hallway and when the caregivers would see me, I used to turn to the wall and walk down the hall, to avoid eye contact.
The state home tried to help AL with his demons, but because they were not aware of his prior care home conditions, he was unable to get the help he needed.
One of AG's sisters, identified only as AJ, was separated from her siblings and sent to live in a house where the windows had bars and the doors had locks.
She says she was treated like a criminal and was under 24/7 supervision.
The siblings believe they wouldn't have been treated like a number if they were Pākehā.
"We just needed to be treated like a child who needed love and a place to call home."
The hearing is set to run for two weeks during which the panel will hear from Māori who experienced abuse as in state care.
