Te tūkinotanga i ngā horopaki taurima i tua atu
Abuse in other care settings

949. Survivors have experienced abuse and neglect in other settings, including adoptive homes, through the adoption process, in transitional and law enforcement settings, and in health camps. Much of the abuse and neglect suffered in these settings was similar to social welfare, faith-based, and disability and mental health settings.

I mōrearea ngā ritenga tamariki atawhai me ngā whakanohonga
Adoption practices and placements were harmful

950. Adoption legislation and practices affected non-Pākehā in specific ways. Adoption legislation in the 1950s and 1960s imposed a Pākehā worldview on adoptions that ignored tikanga and cut through existing Māori whāngai practices where tamariki were almost always placed within whānau.[1368] Further, when tamariki and pēpē Māori were adopted out their ethnicity was sometimes falsely recorded or not recorded at all. This was particularly common in closed adoption practices.

951. Having access to knowledge of one’s lineage, kinship connections and tūrangawaewae, was understood as an essential element of one’s identity in the Māori worldview. The forcible severing of a person’s understanding of themselves through the practice of closed adoption, therefore, denied the fundamental right of the tamaiti (child) and the whānau.

952. The Inquiry heard from survivors who had experienced having their ethnicity falsely recorded, and the devastating impacts this had. Māori survivor Ms AF (Ngāti Tahinga / Ngāti Ira) had her ethnicity listed as European at the hospital and her adoption was not notified to the Ministry of Māori Affairs.[1369]

“The moment my adoption happened was the minute I lost my legal Treaty rights as a Māori. This is the one thing that broke my heart. Under the law, I have no right [to] succeed my mother’s Māori land interests.”[1370]

953. Ms AF believed her ethnicity was inaccurately recorded because Māori babies were less desirable than Pākehā babies, and because her adoptive mother had requested a Pākehā baby.[1371]

954. Pacific survivors also experienced severance from their culture, roots and heritage through inaccurate recordings of ethnicity and inappropriate placements. Cook Islands Māori survivor Te Pare Meihana was matched according to her physical characteristics, namely her skin colour. Though she was of Cook Islands Māori descent, she was placed with a Māori caregiver. As she recalled: “I was a brown baby, a brown kid, and my adopted parents, my father was Māori so, you know, the colour was right.”[1372]

955. In the process of being placed with her adoptive family, Te Pare’s ethnicity was changed to Māori, which resulted in cultural disconnection and neglect:

“Maybe they thought we were all the same... When you look at the files and it says, ‘She’s of the same colouring, she’ll fit in well’, you know, that’s all I could see. I couldn’t see any assessment of my father’s background and actually how appropriate would he be to adopt a child. It was just all about the tidiness of the house and the colour of the skin”.[1373]

956. Many survivors talked about how the cultural incongruence of their placements meant they were culturally unsafe. This had traumatic effects on them, including transgressing their right to a connection with their whakapapa and kainga (family). As Ms TU recounted: “The decision to adopt me out to Pālagi people meant I became disconnected from my Samoan heritage and cultural roots. There are no words to describe the trauma created and the impact this has had on me.”[1374] She further explained how this felt:

“I was placed with a white family and ... there was no regard for my connection with my cultural heritage. I felt like the State tried to erase my history as a Samoan child. Regardless of whether there was any malice involved, I felt like this was a complete disregard for my needs as a cultural person.”[1375]

957. Jenni Tupu (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine), a Samoan and Māori survivor also reflected on her placement and how culture and kainga were not considered in the decisions made about her adoption:

“I think that most of those who are adopted whānau that, you know, undergo the separation. We should be able to have access to culture and that as well. And yet for many [of] us, it just wasn't an option. It wasn't there because we were adopted to strangers and there was no connection to the whānau or the whakapapa.”[1376]

958. Survivors also spoke about experiencing racism from adoptive parents once they were placed. For Ms AF, being adopted into a Pākehā family resulted in being subjected to racist abuse. Her mother and aunt would tell her that she was nothing but a ‘dirty savage’ and that she was “lucky to be raised by a Catholic white family”.[1377]

“I don’t know my family. I know who they are, but we have no real connection. My whole life I have wanted to have this connection to my whānau but we are all still suffering from the trauma we experienced. Adoption severed our whānau connection and damaged the relationships within the whānau … There was a violent structure to my adoption. They were complicit in stripping me of my whakapapa and this violence was felt throughout my life.”[1378]

Te tūkinotanga i roto i ngā whakaritenga whakawhiti, whakaū ture hoki
Abuse in transitional and law enforcement settings

959. The Inquiry heard from survivors about the abuse and neglect they suffered at the hands of police officers, and abuse they suffered as children in adult prisons or police cells.

Te tūkinotanga mai i ngā pirihimana
Abuse from police officers

960. Survivors experienced physical, psychological, and sexual abuse from police officers – being degraded, assaulted, forcibly strip-searched, and raped. Most of these experiences happened when survivors were young, from 10 to 15 years old, and were fearful experiences. Some survivors said they were so fearful they thought they would be killed by police officers.

961. Many survivors said they were regularly given ‘hidings’ by NZ Police and described being punched and kicked in the head,[1379] being beaten with objects,[1380] suffering injuries from police dogs,[1381] and injuries from pepper spray.[1382] Survivor Mr HC’s hand was broken after an officer stomped on a chair that was on his hand.[1383]

962. Survivors were also psychologically abused by NZ Police while in custody. Police officers degraded and verbally abused survivors, calling them derogatory terms including “little cunt”,[1384] and “fucking shit”,[1385] as well as unfairly criminalising them without them being charged with anything. Survivor FN said he witnessed other people attempt to take their own lives while in the cells.[1386]

963. Survivors also said they had been humiliated by NZ Police through forced strip searches. Survivor Mr TN said he “was arrested on 6 July 1994 for threatening behaviour. I was taken by the police to the cells where I was strip-searched in front of my friends, including a female friend. I was only 13 years old.”[1387]

964. Survivor Mr CA said he was tackled, dragged to a room, pinned down and had his clothes forcibly pulled off him in front of other children, while a police officer mocked his genitals.[1388]

965. Some survivors had multiple experiences of NZ Police abuse, starting from when they were young. Survivor LK explained he was picked up off the road by NZ Police as a child at 9 or 10 years old and accused of stealing bikes. He said he was taken to the station, beaten and verbally abused. He was so scared, he thought the officers were going to kill him.[1389] Mr LK had multiple experiences of abuse from the Invercargill Police. In another incident, when he was 15 years old, he had taken a hallucinogenic, was picked up by NZ Police while walking down the road, and was left in a cell for 26 hours. He said NZ Police knew he was hallucinating, but only came in every now and then to hose him down. He said he ended up smashing the concrete walls and breaking his hands, and went to the hospital after being released:

“They just hosed us down and treated us like scum. I wasn’t arrested or charged. They didn’t tell Mum, they didn’t give me any medical support. I stayed in hospital for about a week. The hospital staff were shocked and said I could have died.”[1390]

966. Mr LK said the treatment he received from NZ Police was so ‘damaging’, he attempted to end his life soon after. He felt like he had no worth or value, saying “I had all this shit going on in my head about how the police had treated me. The police were the main reason I had no hope in life.” [1391]

967. Survivor Mr IA said he and his friends, all male, and all Māori, used to be picked up off the streets for no reason. He said when he was 15 years old, there was a “hit-squad” of officers who would “round up the boys on the street, beat us up and throw us in the cells”.[1392] He explained: “[We] were shit scared of the police because we got the bash every single time.”[1393]

968. The physical abuse from NZ Police could be extremely violent. Following an incident where he was picked up by NZ police and beaten on the way to the station, Mr IA said he had broken ribs. He said that another time, he was driven to a paddock by police, stripped naked, and had police dogs set on him.[1394] Another survivor told the Inquiry how when he was 14 years old he was handcuffed lying face down in the gravel when an officer pulled his head off the ground by his hair, and hit him in the forehead with a baton. He thought he had gone blind because his eye socket had filled with blood.[1395]

969. In some incidents, NZ Police would be involved in finding and picking up survivors who had run away from home. These survivors tried to escape abuse at home but were subjected to further abuse and humiliation from police, before being taken back home. In these instances, the police not only failed to prevent children and young people from being harmed but put them back into an abusive environment. These omissions and actions caused further harm.

970. In survivor Neta Kerepeti’s case, a police officer used the opportunity to sexually abuse her. She explained how she would run away from home after being beaten by her father, regularly being picked up by NZ Police and taken back. She said one sergeant in the Whangārei Police picked her up, took her to an isolated place and raped her when she was 12 years old. He told her that no one would believe her because he was a police officer and she was a “naughty child and had a reputation for being wayward.[1396]

971. The Inquiry also heard of instances where NZ Police failed to take action when complaints of abuse in care were reported to them, this was especially the case for survivors abused in the Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit and is discussed in detail in the Inquiry’s interim report Beautiful Children.

972. Some survivors said that while they were children, police officers assaulted them to ‘extract’ confessions. Mr FN explained he was punched in the face by an Invercargill police officer while handcuffed in the back of a police car in order to get a confession for a crime he did not commit.[1397] Māori, Pākehā survivor Toni Jarvis (Ngāi Tahu , Ngāti Kahungunu), then 15 years old, said he was handcuffed and beaten with a phone book until he confessed to a crime he didn’t do and only “to make him stop”.[1398]

973. Survivors told of the neglectful and harmful conditions of police cells. Mr FN said he was deprived of food, hosed down with cold water every day and left in wet clothing in a cold wet cell.[1399] More recent reports, including by the Children’s Commissioner and the United Nations, have called to end the practice of locking children in police cells. According to the Children’s Commissioner, the use of police cells for young children is effectively solitary confinement, as they need to be kept separate from adults in custody. The damaging and long-lasting effects of solitary confinement are discussed in Part 5 of this report.[1400]

Te tūkinotanga o ngā tamariki me ngā rangatahi i roto i ngā manga mauhere
Abuse of children and young people in prison cells

974. The Inquiry heard of children and young people who were detained on remand in adult prisons. The Inquiry heard evidence of many forms of abuse and neglect of children and young people in adult prisons including inhumane treatment such as spending weeks in prison cells without any clean clothing, being forced to use a plastic bucket for a toilet,[1401] or being sexually harassed,[1402] assaulted[1403] or raped by adult prisoners.[1404]

975. Brent Mitchell spent one night in Mt Crawford when he was being transferred between borstals. He said he was placed in a shared cell and raped by his cellmate.[1405]

976. Adult prisons contain distinct solitary confinement units. William MacDonald, who was detained in Mt Crawford at 14 years old, was sent to solitary confinement (also called ‘the digger’) for approximately one week.[1406] The digger was an underground cell and the only light was a tiny window in the ceiling. William shared how he ”broke down" in the digger and his only respite was a tiny exercise area he described as a ”dog kennel”.[1407]

Te tūkinotanga i roto i ngā hopuni hauora
Abuse in health camps

977. For some survivors who attended health camps, being placed there was fearful and traumatic. Survivors were not told where they were going, why, or for how long.[1408] Māori survivor Stephanie Hopa (Muaūpoko) described it as ’terrifying‘.[1409] Other survivors spoke about how they felt lonely and homesick.[1410]

978. The Inquiry heard evidence of physical, sexual and psychological abuse, and neglect of survivors who attended health camps. Survivors spoke of the cruel treatment they received, with one Māori survivor Mr KA saying “It was hell, people were mean, and I would describe it as a very strict place. It was almost run like a prison for children.”[1411]

979. Māori, NZ European survivor Craig Dick (Ngāi Tahu) was verbally abused by staff at Roxburgh, called a “little fuckwit”, “little snot” and “little dickhead.”[1412] Not only was he verbally abused he was frequently hit around the ears and smacked on the leg with a metre-long rule. He was also psychologically punished by being locked in an extremely small cupboard, sometimes for hours:

“I was locked in the cupboard regularly. I think this happened every second or third day while I was at Roxburgh. The cupboard was dark and I often felt afraid. I also felt panicked and I now understand that this feeling is claustrophobia”.[1413]

980. Mr LG spoke of being locked in a small timeout room – a cold, windowless room, which was like a cupboard. He remembers being left there for so long that he soiled himself, saying “There was no toilet in there either and I remember doing things in my pants and having to later clean it up myself, cleaning my pants and undies in the sink with my own hands.”[1414]

981. Māori, European, French survivor Mr SK (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Porou) who was aged between 5 and 7 years old at the time, recalls being locked in a room for two days without any food.[1415]

982. Many survivors spoke of regular physical violence from staff at health camps. Survivor Daniel Nelson recalled, “It seemed fun at first, but it was horrible. It was run by women and just a couple of the ladies were really mean. If you did anything wrong the staff pulled your hair, squeezed your forearm really hard and sent you to [your] room for ages.”[1416]

983. Other survivors recall being hit across the head with an open palm and having their arms twisted behind their back.[1417] Some survivors of physical abuse at health camps recall seeing it happen to other children.[1418]

984. As well as physical violence, survivors, some of whom were aged from 5 to 7 years old, were also subjected to sexual abuse, including sexual harassment, sexual assaults and rape.[1419] Mr V said “I got sent to Pakuranga Health Camp in term 2 of 1987. I was sexually abused by a staff member at Pakuranga Health Camp. Eventually, the abuse progressed to rape.”[1420]

985. The sexual abuse by staff of young children was regular and planned. One survivor, Mr KE, shared how nightshift caregivers at the Half Moon Bay Health Camp in Pakuranga would check on the children as they slept. If a child had urinated in their bed staff would put them in the shower and sexually abuse them. Mr KE shared that “after the abuse was finished, I would get put back in bed and was given stickers and told how much of a good boy I was”.[1421]

986. Abusers were also highly manipulative, using their positions of power to get children alone, then threatening them about not disclosing the abuse to anyone. Mr NK described how an older male staff member whispered sexual things in his ear and tried to touch him under his clothes. Mr NK said:

“He said if I say anything he will do the same to my little brother... I was very scared that he would sexually abuse [my brother] and so I put up with it.”[1422]

987. Survivor Mr KP described being sexually and physically assaulted by a male staff member at the health camp. He said:

“In the residence, he was often responsible for supervising the children on outings and during movie nights. In the school, he was the carving teacher … Once, this staff member fondled me, and then forced me to perform oral sex on him. I was sexually assaulted by him on at least three occasions, two times in the carving room on school grounds, and one time in the sick bay, which was located next to the dining room in the residence. He warned me not to tell anybody about the assaults.”[1423]

988. Many very young girls who attended Glenelg Health Camp in Ōtautahi Christchurch, were also subjected to multiple invasive and unnecessary vaginal examinations. Survivor Corrina Gleeson explained:

“I think we went to Glenelg a few times. I was made to line up with four other girls. I thought this was for a nit inspection or some sort of examination. The door opened and there was a bed there so I knew what was coming … We were taken in on our own and you could hear screams. They took vaginal swabs, measured and photographed my genitalia. They were like smear tests. Violating. I was 4 the first time. This happened four times.”[1424]

989. The abuse perpetrated on these very young girls was significantly compounded by those carrying out these examinations, when they wrongly claimed the girls had exhibited signs of previous sexual abuse. Family members of these survivors were then put through a formal investigation process causing significant harm to those families.[1425]

Read the next part of Chapter 4 here

 

Footnotes