Elize says her family life was challenging, but she was not abused until she was taken into care
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
When Elize was 10 years old she was placed in foster care where she was sexually abused.
Elize and her sibling were sent to the same foster home. The foster father sexually abused Elize. He would come into her bedroom at night and put his hand down her pyjamas. He forced her hand around his penis and tried to make her masturbate him.
When the foster family and her sibling were downstairs watching television, the foster father would make Elize sit on his knee and would move her around on his lap.
There were times when Elize saw the foster mother being cruel to her sibling, making the sibling eat food until they were sick.
Elize used to run away from the foster family, trying to get back to her biological mother. She comments ‘We were poor but there was never any abuse at home’.
She was allowed to return home after less than a year. By that time she had lost her confidence, and she stopped going to school. Her social workers put her into a residential placement where there were ‘very tough girls’. She was moved to another placement which she liked. ‘It was not too bad, I quite enjoyed it there’ she says.
Around this time, Elize talked to a friend about the abuse she had suffered. Together, the girls decided Elize should write to the foster father asking him for money, otherwise she would tell people what he had done to her. She says ‘I don’t know why I did that, it was very naughty’.
The police arrived and told her that she had committed the second worst crime after murder, ‘blackmailing’ the foster father through the letters. They took Elize in a car to a private house for a medical examination. She has since tried to find a record of this but has been told it can’t be found. Her care records are heavily redacted.
Elize has since reported the abuse by the foster father to the police, but they have said there is not enough evidence to pursue the case.
Elize has suffered with depression, anxiety and physical illness. She struggles with relationships and intimacy.
She has a child who she says is very good to her and she is proud of her child’s achievements.