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Allegations of Abuse in Institutions |
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A teenager who had spent years in
institutional care did not always understand "boundaries" that family
life required, a former foster father says. In the High Court at Wellington
yesterday, the man, whose name was suppressed, said he once turned off the
hot water when she had been too long in the shower, and flicked her hand with
the flat side of a knife when she picked at meat as he was carving a roast.
The teenager concerned is now 45 and is suing four Catholic organisations for
$550,000 for emotional, verbal, physical and sexual abuse she says she
suffered while growing up. The defendants, Wellington's Roman
Catholic Archdiocese, Catholic Social Services, The Sisters of Mercy
(Wellington) Trust Board, and St Joseph's Orphanage Trust Board, deny her
claims on factual and legal grounds. The claimant has been diagnosed with a
range of psychiatric and emotional problems. Her parents separated in the
1960s and her mother put the seven children into care. The man who gave evidence
yesterday said the claimant arrived at his home in early 1977 after boarding
at St Mary's College. The move reunited her with one of her sisters, who was
one of eight children living in the house. The man told one of the claimant's
lawyers, Nicolette Levy, that he was not told specifically of problems
resulting from the claimant being institutionalised, but he and his wife had
a general idea because her sister had problems. Catholic Social Services gave the
couple a $15 a week subsidy for each girl, and chits to buy clothes. The
couple paid for presents and holidays and CSS paid extra for the girl's
driving lessons, sports clothes, and a dress and tickets for a ball. She was
happy while she stayed with them but was demanding and did not always
understand the sort of boundaries that came with being in a large family, the
man said. He and his wife gave her $1000 and
paid other expenses when she returned to New Zealand in 2000. They gave up
their bed when she and her two sons stayed for several weeks. |
