It's not rocket science to keep a child safe

This article (first published in The Mercury on 4 September 2024) is taken from a speech made at recent Ribbons of Reflection events in Launcestonand Burnie. The events marked the first anniversary of the Commission of Inquiry delivering its final report and gave communities a chance to show their ongoing support for victim-survivors of child sexual abuse.

My name is Azra. I am a survivor of child sexual and physical abuse while in state care as a foster child.

Initially I thought Iwould share my experiences as a foster child. They weren’t pleasant  - my formative years were spent being a punching bag for my first foster mother and 2 adult males who knew better preyed on my vulnerability as a small child, and subjected me to child sexual abuse.

What I would like to speak about instead is forgiveness.  

I can forgive the failures that happened to me personally. Failures that included people who didn’t know better, people who were fearful of speaking up etc.  

Humans that failed me.

However what I simply cannot forgive is similar failures continuing to happen in real time to children who find themselves unfortunate enough to wind up with the state of Tasmania as their guardian.  Failures that continue to happen even after victim-survivors have spoken out time andtime again about what needs to change to protect our most vulnerable population.

The abuse I sufferedand the system failures I was subjected to created a trajectory for me that wassimilar to the young people currently locked away in Ashley Youth DetentionCentre.  I was that teenager who went onto break the law - not unlike some of the children we see on the streets today, who are hurting and confused and often victims of some form of child abuse.  They haven’t asked for this journey, and nor do they deserve it.  

While I was judged, even discriminated against, by society because of my behaviour, I was finally lucky to have the unwavering support of the amazing foster family I eventually got. The children I see today that are dealing with similar circumstances don’t have that support in their lives, far too often these children are left to fend for themselves, are subject to repeated acts of abuse and neglect and unfortunately can wind up in places like Ashley Youth Detention Centre.  The very place that the Commission of Inquiry report made a recommendation to close as soon as possible last year. Twelve months on and it’s still open, and alarmingly there are very recent cases of allegedabuse coming to light.

It is clear our children and young people are still being failed.

They are not being protected, nor are they being kept safe.

Now, more than ever I am left wondering about the authenticity of the commitment from the state to prevent child sexual abuse.

I want to keep hope for our children in Tasmania.  

I, along with many others in this space, welcome commitment from the Tasmanian Government in the development of their draft strategy and I admire the labour so many survivors have put in so far to feed into the development of that strategy.

But now we are at a point where we need so much more than words on paper.

Victim-survivors,whistle blowers and others have been advocating for a long time on how children should be kept safe.

What we need now is solid action and solid commitment from our government to ensure no child is abused while under state care, this includes measures for prevention, early intervention, response and healing.

Being in the care of the state should never be a detriment to a child’s life - yet all too often this is what we are seeing.

It’s really not rocket science to keep a child safe from harm and happy. I never want one more child to go through what I did.  

We owe it to them. They are our future and what we do now is vital for addressing the epidemic of child abuse in Tasmania for this generation and beyond.  

Azra is a mother, a photographer and a victim-survivor of child sexual abuse.