Abuse Investigation: Sisters Struggling to Recognize Their Suffering in Foster Homes

One woman says her older sister stopped taking life-saving medications when she learned that her two younger sisters had also been sexually abused in foster care.

Gina Sammons told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into State Care on Friday that the death of her older sister Alva 19 years ago had prompted her claim for recognition and reparation by the Crown.

Giving evidence on Friday and flanked by her sister Tanya, Gina said all three sisters suffered physical, psychological and sexual abuse in their foster home.

Gina said that Alva believed she had protected her younger sisters from abuse.

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“He told me once that he allowed himself to be sexually abused, because he thought if he put up with it, maybe we wouldn’t have to,” Gina said.

Both Gina and Tanya spoke of being sexually abused by foster siblings.

When they complained to their foster mother, she refused to believe them and beat them.

Gina filed a complaint with the police and years later, after looking at her files, saw that the police had decided that her story could not be corroborated.

One of the lines in the file made her furious.

The officer recorded: “At best, I am reluctant to take on juvenile sex crime issues at the risk of further adult / child investigations being delayed.”

When asked how she felt, Gina took a deep breath before telling the Commission: “If I had a guarantee that I wouldn’t have gone to jail, I would have cut myself [the foster brother’s] throat for justice. I didn’t get it from the police. I felt like the cop didn’t want to do his job. “

Gina said that she later learned that Alva had also filed a complaint with the Ombudsman for sexual abuse.

“It just pissed me off because they didn’t come to ask us.”

Physical and psychological abuse

Gina also spoke of the beatings at the hands of her foster father.

One beating was so brutal that he urinated.

When the social worker came to visit her, they told her to hide under the bed so that the authorities could not see her injuries.

“I just remember hearing my adoptive mother tell the social worker that she was at a friend’s house.”

Tanya told the commission that she recalled one day that her cat had made a mess in the garage and her foster father killed the cat in front of her.

Among the degrading episodes Gina recalled was urinary reflux when she was 10 years old, which meant that she sometimes wet the bed.

“I remember my foster mother hanging my underwear in the mailbox so everyone on the school bus could see that I had wet the bed.”

Alva found out later about what happened to her sisters.

Later in life, Alva had a heart valve replacement to repair the undetected rheumatic fever damage she had when she was young.

Doctors prescribed medicine and told him that he would die if he stopped taking them.

“Not long before her death, Alva had talked to us about the abuse and we told her that Tanya and I had also been sexually abused in our foster home. We think that when he found out that he hadn’t saved us from that abuse, he broke down. “

Alva’s death spurred Gina on.

“Alva is the main reason we wanted to make a claim in the first place. We want to do justice for Alva and his children, to make sure that someone is held accountable for the abuse we all suffered, which ultimately killed Alva and left his children without a mother. “

A week after Alva’s death, Gina found letters that her older sister had written to her.

It was those letters that led her to request her file from the Ministry of Social Development.

He saw archival notes from social workers, church leaders and teachers expressing concerns.

“A social worker acknowledged to himself that the department had not done a good job of taking care of me.”

Gina filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Social Development.

They initially offered him $ 28,000, but he turned it down because the Crown claimed there was “insufficient evidence” of physical and psychological abuse.

Later, in a judicial conciliation conference, they accepted that there was physical abuse.

“I was so upset and angry that I just remember sobbing and pointing at them saying, ‘My sister is dead because of you.’

The Crown increased its offer to $ 32,000 but there was no recognition of Alva.

Gina reluctantly accepted the offer. The legal battle had lasted nine years.

Tanya later filed her complaint and was initially offered $ 20,000 and an apology, even though MSD said they had not fully reviewed her file.

The attorney attending the Commission, Kerryn Beaton, asked Tanya what she thought of that.

“It was a kick in the …”

Tanya asked how MSD could apologize if they hadn’t read the file.

“I rejected it. It wasn’t about the money for me, it never has been, but because they never mentioned Alva and the apology side … it’s empty. “

Seven years later, Tanya’s claim for reparation is still unsolved.

There has also been nothing for Alva’s two children, the purpose of the complaints in the first place.

MSD eventually agreed to write a letter of apology to Alva’s children, but refused to make any payments.

Gina said that’s not enough.

“Acknowledging our experiences and writing an apology does not help Alva’s children, who were left with nothing, without a mother and without support, due to the effect that the abuse and neglect had on Alva.”

Gina said she believed MSD was refusing to pay Alva’s children because it would open “the floodgates” for others who had lost loved ones abused in state care.

He said lengthy legal action had forced them to continually relive the abuse.

“We have both worked very hard to get through our education. We have jobs and families, and I believe we have both channeled our experiences to motivate ourselves to help others. But the abuse we suffer has affected every aspect of our lives. “

Alva’s daughter, Hope Curtin, appeared on closed circuit television and spoke of the pain of losing her mother at age 2.

“The abuse she suffered affected her ability to care for me, even though she loved and cared about me.”

He asked the commission to investigate how his mother’s complaint of abuse in 1992 was never acted upon.

“I will fight for my mother’s claim until there is nothing more I can do.”

Where to get help for sexual violence

• Rape crisis 0800 88 33 00, click on the link for local help lines.

• Support for victims 0800 842 846, text 4334, safetotalk.nz web chat or email [email protected].

• Port Online information and support for people affected by sexual abuse.

• Women’s shelter 0800733843 (female only)

• Male survivors Aotearoa Helplines in New Zealand, click for more information (male only).