Chapter 15 — Foster care

Sexual abuse

Five (5) witnesses reported being sexually abused by more than one individual in their foster care placements. One witness reported being sexually abused by both a foster mother and her son. Eight (8) witnesses reported sexual abuse perpetrated by six foster fathers and by four biological sons of foster care providers. I used to think that sexual abuse meant rape. I didn’t understand, I thought I was bad and that it only happened to me. He ... (foster parents’ son)... used to maul...(my)... private parts. ... If she ... (foster mother)... was going off he’d say to leave me...(at home)... he wanted me to do things, she’d say to stay at home, there was work to be done. He’d abuse me every opportunity he got.

Six (6) of the 15 witnesses reported being sexually abused by eight male adults who were members of the local community or others who were not members of the foster family household. They included a local youth, workman, neighbour, shop-keeper, priest, and relatives of the foster parents. The witnesses encountered these men when they were sent for messages to local shops or were unsupervised, either in the foster homes or in other locations in the community.

Neglect

Failure to care for the child which results, or could reasonably be expected to result, in serious impairment of the physical or mental health or development of the child or serious adverse effects on his or her behaviour or welfare.3 Witnesses reported that their care was neglected at many levels both by the actions and inactions of those who had a duty of care for their welfare They reported neglect both while in foster care and in the process by which foster families were selected and supervised.

The main areas of neglect reported by 17 witnesses were; the inappropriate placement of children with foster parents who were unable to meet their developmental and social needs, the subsequent absence of supervision of the foster care placements, neglect of bodily integrity, lack of adequate food and clothing, neglect of education and inappropriate work. A further area of neglect reported by witnesses in this group was the lack of provision made for their future and the failure to provide aftercare or transitional support from the age of 16 years.

Fifteen (15) witnesses reported having to work for their foster parents, in 10 instances on the family farm caring for animals, cleaning farm buildings, working in the fields, cutting and drawing timber, turf and hay, and carrying water. This work was reported to have taken precedence over other activities, particularly school attendance. Ten (10) witnesses reported being responsible for a large share of the housework in the foster homes including cooking, sewing, cleaning and carrying water. Five (5) witnesses reported being sent to work for neighbouring farmers and the relatives of their foster parents as ‘hired help’, but received no payment. Physically having to work so hard, we weren’t big.... It seemed like it was always freezing cold, snow and frost.... In winter ... sawing down trees, in the midst of him ...(foster father)... hurling abuse.... The memory of dragging what seemed like trees across fields to the back garden and then sawing them down to logs.... • We cut wood everyday when we came home from school and in the summer holidays we went felling.... They felled the trees and I was always considered a man in relation to the cross cut... (saw)... You would always be up to your knees in water and you had to saw... and trim the tree and it had to be cut up and brought back... and got ready... for the people who wanted it....Every Saturday you took the wood to town...the school holidays were taken up with this...

Eleven (11) witnesses reported on the lack of education they were afforded through being kept out of school to work at household or farm chores. A number of the witnesses commented on the fact that education was generally regarded as a low priority by their foster parents. School ... was a very difficult time ... the worst thing was not being allowed to do homework.... I would be trying to do it on the side of the road.... I wanted to be educated.... I managed to scrape through the Primary Cert and I took home this certificate, and was so proud of it. I remember her ...(foster mother)... holding it up and ceremoniously tearing it, ripping it up ... and threw it straight in the fire.

Five (5) witnesses reported that they received little formal education as a result of the demands placed on them to do household and farm work for their foster parents. One witness who had been sexually abused reported that when she became disruptive at school she was excluded and kept at home full-time to help her foster mother with a home-based commercial enterprise.

Eight (8) witnesses reported being sent to school in clothing inferior to that worn by local children. Poor quality and inadequate clothing was reported to have been replaced with good clothes on special occasions, such as official visitors calling and outings.

Eight (8) witnesses described receiving insufficient food and, in particular, being isolated at mealtimes when they were either not permitted to eat with the other family members or were given inferior food. One witness described being made to sit in the corner of the kitchen, where he recalled being thrown food scraps from the table: On all occasions when dinner was taking place ... I was put into the corner ... of the kitchen.... I had my dinner fed to me by ... one of the men ... in the house ... (who) would throw it ...(a piece of meat)... into me in the corner and I would eat that. • I remember coming in from school and the skillet was on the floor on the piece of sacking...cows udders, pigs tails, cabbage...you weren’t allowed to the table...everything was Middle Ages, I don’t know why we deserved that.

This witness also reported being told that when he was moved to another placement his new foster mother had to prevent him from eating the hen’s food in the farmyard. He believed he had been so hungry in the previous placement that he had developed a habit of eating the animal feed.

In seven foster homes all aspects of care were reported as neglectful, including both insufficient bedding being available and inadequate hygiene facilities. One witness reported on the lack of privacy available in the foster home where she was regularly stripped to be washed in the kitchen in front of male adults. Five (5) witnesses, three male and two female, reported being made to share beds with adults, despite there being alternative sleeping arrangements available. As previously mentioned, three of these witnesses reported being sexually abused.

Eight (8) witnesses reported that their foster parents always had at least one other and often several foster children at the same time. The belief that they were regarded as a source of income rather than children in need of care was expressed by many of the witnesses.

Fifteen (15) witnesses recalled officials visiting their foster homes. These visitors were described as social workers, public health nurses, and others, some of whom were known by name but not by their professional role. The Committee heard from witnesses that after the mid-1980s official visits were more regular. Seven (7) witnesses reported that social workers called to the foster homes on a regular basis. Several of the visiting social workers, public health nurses, and other officials were described as not speaking directly to the witnesses or other foster children but instead spent their time talking with the foster mothers. There were three reports of visiting inspectors being shown bedrooms used by family members where they were incorrectly told the witness and other foster children slept. One witness who reported being sexually abused on a regular basis within her foster home recalled the inspector’s visits, and another commented on the preparation made for planned visits: Miss ...X..., a nice young lady, she used to come to the house, used to drop in and just look at me, and on the face of it I would be seen to be well fed and kept very clean and well dressed. So, on the face of it, I would be seen to be well looked after but ... in hindsight ... I should have been taken away and spoken to on my own. • Visitors...do-gooders would come, the ladies with the cars and the furs would come. She...foster mother ...got all the clothes from the pawn...(shop)... and all the stuff would be home out of the pawn and would be laid out and then they went back again when they left...In those days of course you didn’t have a voice, nobody thought you had a brain even.

In one instance a witness reported that she believed the social worker was a social acquaintance of the foster parents, which made it difficult for the witness to disclose sexual abuse. Another witness recalled that official visitors came to see two other foster children in the home but nobody ever came to see her: ‘Someone ...(inspector)... called to see them 2 girls ...(foster siblings).... Nobody ever called to see me. ... The other 2 girls were paid for, they had to go to school, but I wasn’t.’ Witnesses were of the view that official visits were prearranged, they recalled being dressed in their ‘Sunday clothes’ and that the house was tidied by way of preparation for the inspectors.

Three (3) witnesses reported that their foster parents applied to adopt them; all reported being abused in their foster homes. One of these witnesses reported that the only visit she could recall during her lengthy foster care placement was when a woman came to assess her foster parents’ suitability as adoptive parents. The adoption was not approved but she remained in the foster home, where she reported that she continued to be abused. The other two witnesses reported that each of their foster homes had been visited on a regular basis by women whom they identified as nurses. The witnesses reported being officially adopted by their foster parents when they were approximately 10 years old and recalled no further visits from the nurses. Both witnesses reported that they continued to be abused following their adoption. Their evidence relating to abuse during the post-adoption period is not included in this report, being outside the remit of the Commission.