Royal Commission into the Protection andDetention of Children in the Northern Territory

WIT.0260.O001.0001

Name:

Address:

Date:

Known to the Commission

26 May 2017

1. This statement made by me accurately sets out the evidence that I amprepared to give to the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detentionof Children in the Northern Territory.

2. This statement is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.

3. I understand that it is an offence to provide false information to the RoyalCommission.

4. This statement has been prepared on the basis that the Commission willissue a Notice to Produce under s 2(3A) of the Royal Commissions Act 1902(Cth) for the production of a signed copy.

Background

5. My full name l am known

6. I was bom in on I grew up in

7. Myeparefnts andldest of eleve~

l am the third

My childhood

8. As a child my life was really good. It was mainly my mum and dad that grewme up. I lived with them and my brothers and sisters. Sometimes we wouldhave cousins growing up with us too.

10.

I always had support from mum and dad. My childhood before welfare wasawesome. I was happy.

l used to stay with , , - , ,ommunity whenI was young and she looked after me well. She used to spoil me and I lovedstaying with my cousins.

11. Mum used to buy the food and clothes for all the family. There was alwaysplenty of good food at home.

12. My parents cared a lot about our safety. My mum and dad were strictbecause the community we grew up in is violent and a lot of children usedrugs and alcohol.

Signed:Witnessed: ,~

Royal Commission into the Protection andDetention of Children in the Northern Territory

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15.

There were no drugs or alcohol at my parent’s house.

As a child I never had any big health problems. If I was ever sick my mumand dad, especially my mum, would take me to the clinic or hospital. Onetime my mum and my little sister went to the hospital in Darwin for mebecause of abscess twice. I also had a problem with my legs when I wasyoung but I grew out of those problems.

l used to go to school regularly. I went to theabout five years of age. I loved everything a

in primary school was maths. I went to schooltoo when I was staying wit

primary school from)urite subjectsometimes

(ing soccer and touch rugby I went to~ and play soccer.

17. My parents used to take me and my brothers and sisters out bush all thetime. I would go fishing and huntin¢ dad’s c coouunnttryry a att

~an dtherivand hun

18. At 13 when I started hiqh school I went to boarding school ir@ It wasI think I went for maybe a year or two.

Being taken into care at 14 years of age

19. I was about fourteen when I was taken into care by DCF.

20. Before I was taken into care I was still going to school and playing sports. Ihad just started to smoke cigarettes a little bit. I was a cheeky teenager backthen.

21. l got taken into care after a fight with my mum. It all started when I got caughtsmoking a cigarette and my parents caught me. I was smoking down theroad. I remember there was a brawn happening that same day in thecommunity.

22. My mum wanted to talk to me about smoking cigarettes. I wasn’t listening andwalked away. Then mv da d got involved too. My dad and mum gave me ahiding and my brothel too.

23. I walked down to my Uncle’s ho l - nd his missus ~~. My uncle’s name I went to his house to cooldown for a bit. About half an hour later my mum came down looking for usand picked us up to take us home. My mum was still carrying on and growlingme for smoking cigarettes. She was telling me she didn’t want me to turn outlike other kids from the community.

24. Back at the house mum was still growling at me and swearing at me. I wasoffended because there was family around at the house. I felt shame becausemy mum was swearing at me in front of everyone. Then I had a fight with mymum. She dragged me into my bedroom and sat on me when I was out of

Signed. .. .- ,Witnessed: ~. , ~

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wind because she didn’t want me to run away. I probably would have runaway if I could.

25. After that I went and slept at my Uncle’ his missus

26. That was the first physical fight I have had with my parents. Nothing like thathad ever happened in my family before.

27Mis a violent place. My mum and dad would lock us in the housewhen there was a big brawl. Sometimes I would tell mum I wanted to go andwatch the big fights but she would never let me go.

28. I remember the Police came to the house after the big fight with my mum.The police tried to talk to me but I walked off to my uncle’s house.

29. A couple of days later welfare came and picked me up from mum’s house.

30. I don’t remember being given a chance to say goodbye to anyoneNot mymum or dad and brothers and sisters.

l flew tomI in a charter plane.

After I was first picked up by welfare I was thinking everything is going to begood and everything is going to change now. It might be fresh start after thefight with mum. I wasn’t expecting change in a wrong way. I didn’t expect tobe dumped by welfare. It didn’t take me long to think being picked up bywelfare was not a good change.

My placements in~

33. After I arrived in~l stayed with a white man and woman. Theybought me clothes. They had another little Aboriginal boy in their care. It wasalright there. They looked after me better than Anglicare. I was there 2 to 3days. Then welfare took me off them and gave me to Anglicare.

A nglicare

34. The DCF workers never talked to me about care plans or counseling or goingto school. They just dumped me at Anglicare.

35. l was at Anglicare for about two to three weeks. I didn’t go to school. I onlyhad a few of my own clothes. I used to walk over to my siste -.,. placewho lived nearby to get clothes. I could wash my few clothes at~ngIicare.There was enough food there. I didn’t do that much at Anglicare. There wereno activities.

36Elived in a one bedroom flat i~~with her husband and baby. Iused to visit her but I couldn’t stay there because the flat was too small for metoo.

SigWitnessed:

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37.

38.

39.

40.

Anglicare didn’t really support me. I didn’t have any contact with my familywhile I was at Anglicare. I was worried about what was happening to me and Imissed my family.

During that time I was at Anglicare, I asked them if I could spend a day withmy W They dropped me off there and said theywould pick me back up. But no one came and picked me up. My auntie and Itried to call Anglicare to pick me up but they didn’t answer. I had to walk backmyself at midnight and it was scary. I was chased by two dogs. I had to walkthough the alleyway and backtrack because of those dogs. I had to walk thelong way because I didn’t trust the gangs. I felt scared but I had to get back towhere I was staying because I was also scared about what would happen if Ididn’t make it back to Anglicare. I remember I used my phone as a flashlightso I could see. It was so dark. I didn’t feel safe at Anglicare.

Soon after I got to Anglicare I knew they didn’t care about me. I wished Icould go home. I thought Anglicare was going to help me. Now I just thinkAnglicare is about ruining peoples lives. Because my life was better beforeAnglicare.

l ended up running away from Anglicare. I don’t remember where I was going.No one was stopping me, or caring where I was going or paying attention tome. No one asked me if I was alright while I was staying there. I just startedtaking off to family places and staying there. I was a bludger asking my familyfor things because I didn’t get them from anyone else. I don’t remember DCFvisiting me at Anglicare. I don’t remember them ever talking to me about afight alghough I accept there is a document that says that they did(DCF.0008.0001.6511 at 6522).

41. Because I was running away DCF put me in Care.

42. DCF moved my auntie~nd her daughterOtoËlso I could stay__ with them there. I don’t know why DCF move - * out ofher place with~ . ~ and I were both going to school

everyday from ~

auntie tried to get into contact with DCF after they moved us to~

ecause they told my auntie they would nut me under her care andfind a place for us to live. They just left us.ll~lllil wasn’t getting money forme.

44. Becausel~lll~ had no mon and no ) lace we moved in with my otherauntie and uncle, ~ and

45.1~/had about six children of her own in a four bedroom house. It was toocrowded for me there.

46. I took myself off to my sister’s house because it was too crowded for me with

Signed!,‘Witnessed:r--~

Royal Commission into the Protection andDetention of Children in the Northern Territory

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47. My sister~ paid for my ticket back to~ Then I went back toEllWilin--- I just wanted to go back there because it was my home.

Settling back into

48. I stayed for a couple of months after all that trouble with DCF.

49. When I came back to~l had trouble going up to my mum and dad. Ifelt like they didn’t show me emotion when they saw me. I think it wasprobably on the inside. They didn’t want me to know that they were reallyworried for me. But then again they were angry at me.

50. I had contact with brothers and sisters. I would see them all the time aroundschool and stuff. Sometimes they would run up to me if they saw me walkingpast but mum and dad wouldn’t say anything.

51. I never tried to follow up with welfare. I just livedwas my boyfriend for about four years.

52. I also lived with my auntietshort timehms good staying witho stay with~

School in !

M community for aI always go back and forth

53. I was living with ~ when I went to school in~J~

54. I lived [elinn["memmmmilel-with my eldest cousin sister feilma[,f~,]nsemomand her family. I we’nt to [ahiml,[illw,]ni~am .i.i.i.olima]iii~ii[.],l~ .--.-..-

55. l actually liked that school in r’~l]l~f’~=~,. i loved it when I was down therebecause not many children knew me and I was the only Aboriginal girl thatwent to that school. I had no friends and no family and so I could concentrateon my schoolwork.

56. I didn’t stay in for long because it was too far from family.

57. I reached about year 10 in school. I stopped going to school because I left

58. Afte~ I came back and lived with ~and his family.

Relationship with ~

59. My relationship with 511EIWWwas like hell. He was a violent person. I wasabout fifteen years of age when I was started going out with him. I was astupid teenager and so I decided to live with him and his family.

60. E’s family spoiled me rotten. Thev bou aht me a lot of clothes. I have ahatelot of respect for his family. But I hate ~ ’

after he stabbed me in the head twice in ~

Signed. . .

Witnessed:(~

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Royal Commission into the Protection andDetention of Children in the Northern Territory

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61. I started staying at home again when I was still with stayedme at home too. Since my relationship ended with~ I have stayed withmy parents.

DCF Case Notes

62. I have been shown 29 pages of documents, DCF.0008.0001.6511-2, thatsummarise the incident that took place between my mum and me. I have notseen these documents before. They are DCF case notes..

63. Reading these documents make me realise I don’t remember some thingsthat happened like I don’t remember going home to stay with my parents afterI ran away from welfare and returned taMWilil!WWI don’t think I even visitedmy family after I came back until I moved back in when I was about 17.

64. It makes me feel sick to read about welfare trying to find me inNIElill-.~is a small community I don’t know why they couldn’t find me.

Court documents

65. I have been shown documents’ DCF.0006.0004.8163-8171 andDCF.0006.0004.8172-8177. I can see they are Court Orders about me. I havenever seen these documents before. I don’t know anything about these courtdocuments. DCF never told me that they were going to Court for me. I didn’tknow about any Orders and when they might have started or ended.

there are some things that DCF gsotmwronhg about so much of it

was wrong. It made it sound worse than it was and it made me feel no goodbecause they are talking about my parents.

what happened.

DCF Care plans

67. I have been shown a document DCF.0006.0006.1988-1995. It is a care planfor me. I don’t remember some things in that document or maybe DCF got itwrong. I never had a curfew, as far as I was aware, while I was at Anglicare.

68.

70.

l feel like I am reading barefaced lies when I read about them wanting to sendme to school and maintain relationships with my family. It sounds like theycared about me but they didn’t at the time.

l was self-harming when I was in DCF care. I was cutting my arms a bit. I wasnever offered any counseling for self-harming. I don’t know whether DCFknew I was self-harming. I don’t think I showed them but they might haveseen the cuts on my arms. I don’t remember ever asking DCF for counseling.

l was never spoken to about any transition planning to move out of care withDCF. They just dumped me.

Signed. * II *’-Witnessed:

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71. I don’t really remember any of my caseworkers because I had so many.Although there was one girl but I don’t know her name. I just remember whatshe looks like. She was good and better than the others I’d say.

My life now

72. Life is alright for me now. I live with my aunti~and her otherhalf. It is just the three of us. I have friends stay with me sometimes. It is nextdoor to my mum and dad’s.

73. I help mum a lot with the kids. I would like to be able to start my own life andto.w,nJE2.~get a decent job. I can’t wait until mum and dad move back to M

r’~llg~ll. i will move back and help them for a bit because I am the only girlthat does the man work with dad. It is good to be with my family.

74. I am 19 now and I am very happy to be back with my mum and dad and livingwith my family.

Suggestions for the future

75. DCF did the wrong thing to take me away from my family. My parents did abetter job at looking after me than DCF. I was only a young teenager when Iwas taken away. I was taken away from a good life with my parents andsiblings. All teenagers are cheeky and naughty from time to time. It doesn’tmean they should be taken away from their parents.

76. l was from a good family. It was like DCF didn’t even try to recognise that andso they just took me away. It was like DCF didn’t think it was worth trying towork with my family to do everything they could to make my family betterinstead of just taking me away.

77. DCF never looked after me. DCF took me away from my family and dumpedme at Anglicare. DCF shouldn’t be allowed to just dump kids. I had a reallybad time at Anglicare. Anglicare should be made different so that it reallysupports young people.

78. DCF should have allowed me to do counseling on my own and with myparents and family before taking me away. It would have been better tosupport me and keep my family together rather than taking me away.

79. If DCF do have to take kids away then they should try to repair relationshipswith family when it is time to go home.

80. Once I was taken away it was really hard to go back to my family and repairmy relationship with my mum and dad. No one was offering me help to talk tothem. Counselling would have been good then too for me and my family.

My feelings

81. I don’t mind talking about my life. I am not ashamed. I think it is important foryoung people to talk about their life. I want to tell my story so that DCF can

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make better decisions in future. I want to tell my story so other kids are nottaken away from their families.

82. I think my life would have been different if I had stayed with my family ratherthan being taken away by DCF. I would have stayed in school. I wouldprobably have a decent job by now.

83. I can’t help but think I might not have ended up in a relationship withl~l-~lMMMif I had stayed with my family. My mum and dad are strict and would not

have allowed me to see him.

84. I think DCF should be made better in many ways. After my experience I thinkwelfare is really bad. I will never trust welfare because what they did to mewas so wrong and it changed my life.

Witnessed:

Dated:

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