A woman, who moved between numerous foster-care placements during her state care, says the then Social Welfare Department was a faceless agency that did not take responsibility for those in its care.
Photo: 123RF
Ms ED, 49, moved between 36 different foster care homes and families between the ages of 18 months and 18 years.
She gave evidence to the Royal Commission inquiry into abuse in care hearing in Auckland on Wednesday.
In one of her many placements she was abused and treated like an animal by her foster mother.
''Could be anything from an untidy room, bed wetting, she would rub my face in the wet sheets. She would withhold food from me for days on end and then force feed me and when I vomited, she would make me eat my own vomit.
''She was just a nasty, nasty woman. It was the worst physical abuse I had experienced anywhere as a child. She would punch, kick, slap. She loved to beat me with the buckle end of the belt.''
''I have a chipped tooth from one of those beatings,'' she said.
ED was too scared to complain to social welfare.
''I often had a black eye, bruises or my lips were often swollen or cut. That foster mother used to say to me that if anybody asks you say you walked into the seesaw. We had a seesaw in our backyard.''
Stood in corner for 22 days
Stephen Shaw Photo: Supplied
Stephen Shaw, 68, was in foster care between 1955 and 1972.
He was sexually and physically abused. "I was petrified.''
He recounted one punishment for wrongly being accused of sneaking a look at a birthday present.
''I had quite a dramatic experience of standing in the corner for 22 days with my hands behind my back. Not being able to move. I went out of the corner for breakfast and lunch and then back out of the corner to go to bed at night time. For 22 days I stood there with my hands behind my back.''
At another placement he was refused any medical help.
At one point he cut the end of his finger on a tin can. ''I remember my finger hanging there, so I pulled it out and screamed inside. They just put sellotape around it, There was no proper medical treatment.''
A similar thing happened again after tripping over heading to school.
''I fell in the gutter and I smashed my head open and a piece of bone fell out. I had it in my hand and went home. They just slotted in (back) in, put some sellotape across it and sent me back to school.''
In later life he had a CAT scan.
''The doctor told me that I had five broken face bones from my past and that my nose had been broken of several occasions.''
The penny finally dropped for him on over hearing his foster parents talking in the kitchen.
''They were saying, ''If we did not have that boy, we would not be able to afford our TV set'', I felt quite hurt after that, because I realised what was going on''.
He ran away at the age of 16 and for the next two years, and while still a state ward, no one made any effort to find him.
''They didn't know where I was, they didn't do anything to find me. It was just totally amazing. There was no care. I had gone missing but they didn't even bother about where I had gone missing, I could have been dead.''
Shaw says the state failed him and others in care.
''I want an apology, a written apology from the Minister or somebody that can actually say we are genuinely sorry for the way we treated you and the others.''
ED knows exactly who should apologise to her.
''I would like any apology from the social workers that did this, that ignored this. From the foster parents that did this, that ignored this. That's the only apology that would mean anything to me, unless it came from the person themselves.''
Both ED and Shaw believe when social workers are checking on placements, they should talk one on one with a child, away from the foster carers, so the real truth of what's going on, comes out.
Where to get help:
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Abuse survivors
For male survivors -
Road Forward Trust, Wellington, contact Richard 0211181043
Better Blokes Auckland, 099902553
The Canterbury Men's Centre, 03 3776747
The Male Room, Nelson 035480403
Male Survivors, Waikato 07 8584112
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Help Wellington, 048016655
Help, Auckland 09 623 1296.
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