Vada, Bo and Trinity
Content Warning: These stories are about violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation and may include references to suicide or self-harming behaviours. They may contain graphic descriptions and strong language and may be distressing. Some narratives may be about First Nations people who have passed away. If you need support, please see Contact & support.
In the early 2020s, Trinity fled the family home with Bo and Vada and her other two children to escape her violent partner.
Bo, 8, is autistic and has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Vada, a few years older, has anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder and, more recently, has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Trinity told the Royal Commission she and her children went to a refuge. However it was full, and staff sent her to a motel.
‘We had to stay in one room with five beds pushed together. There was no internet … very minimal emergency food. There was no support worker to come and assist with the children.’
Trinity and the family lived at the motel for some time while she obtained a domestic violence order and police removed the children’s father from the family home.
Child protection services spoke to the children and they all spoke about ‘physical violence, psychological abuse, emotional abuse, from their father’.
A couple of weeks after Trinity and the children returned home, Vada told Trinity her father had sexually abused her over a number of years.
Trinity immediately advised child protection services and took her to the police station.
A child protection officer spoke to Vada on her own without any other support. ‘She was overwhelmed and uncomfortable,’ Trinity said. Police believed Vada, but felt the information she gave was not enough to take the matter further.
A few days later, Bo told Trinity his father had sexually assaulted him. A child protection officer interviewed him. When the officer asked Bo open-ended questions he said ‘the elephant hurt me’. After a short while the officer told Trinity they weren’t ‘really getting anywhere’ and asked her to come in but not look at Bo. When the officer asked a question about the elephant, Bo repeated the elephant had hurt him and ‘pointed to his backside’. Bo started getting hungry and they ended the interview. The officer told Trinity to ‘bring him back in a few years’.
Frustrated, Trinity asked the officer what training they have in interviewing children with disability. The officer said they weren’t trained and they ask potential victims the same questions ‘no matter what’.
Trinity was shocked.
‘If you have difficulty with communication and language there is no interpreter. There is no communication assistance. How is that justice?’
The officer agreed ‘the protocol is wrong … particularly for people with autism, children with autism’ where it is clear there are ‘communication and social challenges’.
Trinity returned home without any referrals for supports.
Trinity is angry health professionals didn’t recognise what was happening to her children. Vada has had frequent urinary tract infections, a preanal tear and stomach issues for a number of years. The local GP sent Vada to the children’s hospital where she was provided a referral for 10 sessions with a psychologist but nothing else.
Trinity applied to the NDIS for funding to support Bo and Vada. Bo’s application was successful but Vada’s wasn’t. Vada’s disabilities are not considered permanent.
Trinity has been able to access some funding from a victims’ support program and, after a long search, found a psychologist who specialises in trauma. The psychologist said the children are telling the truth and Bo is ‘incapable of lying’.
Social workers have reported seeing the children’s father driving around in a new car and ‘believe he’s grooming again’.
Trinity is concerned that as Bo and Vada grow up they’ll remember what happened and ‘wonder why didn’t anyone do anything’.
‘My children have been raped. What about their future? What about now? There’s not one person doing anything. No follow up. Nothing.’
Disclaimer: This is the story of a person who shared their personal experience with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through a submission or private session. The names in this story are pseudonyms. The person who shared this experience was not a witness and their account is not evidence. They did not take an oath or affirmation before providing the story. Nothing in this story constitutes a finding of the Royal Commission. Any views expressed are those of the person who shared their experience, not of the Royal Commission.