When Faye* and her sibling were placed in the care of foster-parents Ruth* and Allen* they were able to live in a warm and comfortable home with stability, but that stability was not to last.
Faye has told Tasmania's child sexual abuse commission of inquiry that what is now the Communities Department failed to protect her from abuse when the couple's adult son Louis* moved back into the family home.
In a statement read to the commissioners by counsel assisting Georgina Rhodes, Faye said she and her sibling had been in and out of foster care before being placed with Ruth and Allen.
She said the couple had a nice home.
"I would describe them as being well off; they had lots of food. It felt so comforting being in a home with all of these things after growing up so poor," Faye said.
When Louis was fired from his job, he moved back into the family home.
Faye told the commission she found out later Louis was fired because he "had a relationship with someone underage".
She said three Children and Youth Services workers visited her and her sibling to tell them Louis was moving in, and asked them how they felt about it.
"We hadn't been told what had happened with Louis and didn't understand the implications and didn't understand the implications or risk of him coming to live in the house with us," Faye told the commission.
"Both my sibling and I told them we wanted to stay in the home."
Faye told the commission Children and Youth Services "should have done better".
"They had the opportunity to protect me but they didn't. They also failed to visit us more frequently, which they said they would.
"If they had followed up, I may have disclosed the abuse earlier."
'He was grooming us'
Louis moved in and Faye said that at first he was "this cool adult" who they had fun with.
Faye said Louis started brushing his genitals against her, and that he would "try to get really close to us and kiss us".
By the time Faye was in her early years of high school, she told the commission, Louis was coming into her room at night and sexually abusing her in her bed.
She said she told her sibling about the abuse and they made a pact they would not leave the other alone with Louis.
Faye said her sibling also told Ruth about the abuse. Faye told the commission she had three conversations with Ruth about it, but did not feel she was taken seriously.
Faye told the commission the third conversation was overheard by Allen.
"Allen said words to the effect of, 'This has happened too many times, it can't be a coincidence, they must be telling the truth,'" Faye told the commission.
Faye said she went to live with another foster-mother, but she was separated from her sibling, who she was close to.
She told the commission that Children and Youth Services continued to place children with Ruth and Allen, "despite my allegations and the clear risk Louis posed".
One allegation a week
The commission heard there were 1,000 children living in out-of-home care in April this year, a figure counsel assisting the commission Rachel Ellyard said was broadly consistent with figures over recent years.
Ms Ellyard said that between January 2013 and July 2021, there were 439 allegations of child sexual abuse in out-of-home care received, involving 299 individual children.
It equates to 52 allegations a year, or one a week.
"And of course we know that child sexual abuse is under-reported both at the time and even years later," Ms Ellyard said.
Faye said she made an initial report to police, but decided not to go ahead because of her affection for Ruth, who she said she was "missing as a mum".
Faye was contacted by police in the mid-2000s and became part of a prosecution of Louis, which was not successful.
In her statement to the commission, she described feeling unsupported throughout the process. She said the result of the court case left her feeling "shattered".
"I always believed my abuser would be held accountable and go to jail … to not be offered any support afterwards felt like I was being told, 'Thanks for your time, see you later.'"
Under review for more than a decade
Ms Ellyard said the out-of-home care and broader child safety systems in Tasmania had been under review and subject to change for more than a decade.
She said nine reports were done between 2011 and 2021, all of which made recommendations that were broadly accepted by the state government.
Ms Ellyard said the themes that emerged from those reports would also emerge in the evidence to the commission this week, including a lack of support for carers, poor recruitment, inappropriate placements and poor compliance with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander placement principles.
The hearing continues.
*Names have been changed.
