The state moved Isabella from paedophile to paedophile. She says 'nobody was paying attention'
Every year, Australia’s child safety departments remove thousands of children from their parents on the grounds they are not safe at home and need urgent protection.
In doing so, the government becomes their guardian, taking responsibility for their lives.
But the state can be an uncaring parent, in whose hands children can live with dozens of strangers a year, be raped by those sent to protect them, and stay “warehoused” in group homes that are seen as training grounds for prison.
As part of a major ABC investigation, more than 700 people from around the country have come forward with concerns about Australia’s failing child protection system.
By the time a child ends up in state care, they have likely already experienced some form of abuse.
Often for a prolonged period, because it can take years for departments to act.
Far from being safe, some of these children are then preyed upon by the very people the government has vetted to look after them.
Isabella was about two years old when she was placed with foster carer Alfred Peter Carr and his wife.
She had always been intimidated by his temper, but as years passed something more sinister in Carr’s nature had reared its head.
“Peter was really into child pornography, and he loved to use me as his main source,” she said.
“That’s just what I grew up thinking kids do.
“Him being my father at the time — because that’s what he was to me at the time, he was dad — I just felt like I didn’t have much choice but just listen and do as I was told and be quiet about it.”
Carr would conceal the paedophilic acts from his wife. By the time Isabella was about eight, the abuse and secrecy had become too much and she self-harmed.
Soon after, the placement broke down and the department sent Isabella to live with another carer. But rather than save her from the abuse, it escalated.
The man would regularly rape Isabella — in the shower, at his gym.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-20/hundreds-of-people-speak-out-against-child-protection-system/101094220
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-20/hundreds-of-people-speak-out-against-child-protection-system/101094220