Ellie was let down by social services, who sent her to live with a sexual abuser
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
Ellie and her sister were neglected by their parents and placed in care.
She feels they were equally neglected by the local authority, who failed to protect them from abuse.
Ellie chose to share her experience in writing.
She lived with her mother and father, but they neglected her and she was on the child protection register.
The family moved a lot. Ellie attended a special needs school and says that she did not have any friends.
When Ellie was 10 years old, the local authority placed her and her sister in the care of a female relative and her male partner, Mr Smith.
Soon after the girls went to live with the couple, Mr Smith began sexually abusing Ellie. He would take her to the bedroom and touch her inside her pants and tell her to perform oral sex on him.
Ellie adds that some weekends, she and her sister were made to go and stay with another man, Mr Jones, at his house. While they were there, Mr Jones sexually abused Ellie, and later raped her. After he did this he demanded Ellie sleep with him through the night.
Mr Smith regularly sexually abused Ellie for three years, until she managed to tell her mother what he had been doing to her. She relates ‘I know at the time the police were called and Mr Smith was arrested’.
Ellie and her sister were moved to live with different relatives. ‘I have had a better life since’ she says.
A few years later, Ellie’s sister reported to the police that she had been raped by Mr Smith. An investigation took place and Ellie also reported the rape by Mr Jones. So far neither man has been prosecuted.
Ellie says that she discovered Mr Smith had previously sexually assaulted a female, and she feels very let down by social services for placing her and her sister with him. With the support of a relative, she is taking legal action against the local authority.