Staff in the children’s home never asked why Zora was going out at night with adult males
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
Zora was taken into care because her stepfather was sexually abusing her.
But the children’s home she was sent to did not protect her from abuse by other men.
Zora was groomed and sexually abused in the family home by her stepfather and some of his friends. This began when she was 11 years old. When she was in her early teens, she disclosed the abuse and was interviewed by the police. Her stepfather was prosecuted and given a prison sentence.
Zora was placed in a children’s home where she made friends with a girl called Stacey. Men from outside the home used to pick Stacey up in cars and take her out. Zora says her friend often came back with gifts like ‘posh handbags’.
Soon after, Stacey introduced Zora to these men, and the girls began going off with them together. The men took them to parties, gave them drink and drugs and sexually abused them. Zora remembers that the abusers were two separate groups of men from different communities and she believes that the staff at the home knew what was happening.
She describes a chaotic regime in the children’s home, with staff not in control and children regularly running away. The local residents often complained about what went on in the home, and Zora says ‘the police were there all the time’. She adds that the staff never intervened to try and stop her going out to meet the men who were abusing her.
Because she often ran away, Zora was moved to different foster carers and then another children’s home. She started drinking and was returned to the first children’s home where she was again abused by the same men. They forced her into prostitution and when she was in her mid teens she was arrested. She says the police knew the names of the men but they didn’t question her about them.
Zora was moved again and went to live with foster parents, but the men continued taking her out to engage in prostitution. She was frequently picked up by the police but no action was taken against the men, even though she offered to give their names. She recalls telling the police she just wanted it to stop and she would tell them everything.
Zora became pregnant by one of the men. She says she was determined not to lose her child and to be a good parent, and that motivated her to get out of the situation.
She managed to get a flat but for some time she lived in fear of her abuser finding her, and she changed her name. Her foster mother was supportive and kept in regular contact with her.
Zora thinks that opportunities to stop the abuse were missed by staff at the children’s home and the police. She believes she should have been asked about the perpetrators and also that she should have been moved out of the area.
She feels she was ‘lucky’ to not be involved in drugs or have mental health problems. She is determined to protect her children from knowing about her ‘old life’.
She has completed a degree and feels positive about pursuing a career.