Freddi
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.
‘They turned me away just because of my disability. I felt like they didn’t believe what I was saying.’
Freddi is a First Nations man in his early 30s who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy. He was in foster care from the age of two.
‘I’ve been through hell since I was 13 to 19,’ he told the Royal Commission. ‘I was physically and mentally abused by my foster parents and sexually abused by them as well.’
Freddi’s foster dad was his uncle. ‘I don’t know how that worked. They never explained it to me properly,’ he said
‘I was basically bashed on a daily basis. I was threatened many times with a gun to my head. I was put in the boot of a car and taken in the middle of nowhere and threatened that if I told anyone that I was sexually abused, I will be shot.’
Freddi has a son as an ‘outcome of the sexual abuse’ by his foster mother. He told social workers often ‘when that was going on’, and asked to be removed from his foster family’s care.
‘But, basically, they wrote it down and never followed up on any of the allegations properly … They refused to remove me from the care,’ he said.
Freddi said social workers didn’t believe him despite the ‘bruises all over [his] body’.
‘So I didn’t know where to turn. I didn’t have no-one to talk to. I didn’t know what to do.’
He also reported it to teachers at his school, but again ‘no-one took any action’.
‘I felt like no-one was out there listening to me … I felt like I was very alone. I was a very confused person during that time … The teachers did not want to help me in any way. So, basically, I just did not accomplish my full potentials.’
Freddi went to the police a few times. They didn’t believe him either, he said, because his foster parents made him out to be a liar. He feels it is unjust that charges were never laid against them.
When he was about 20, he broke free and moved interstate to be with his partner, now husband, whose family is ‘very supportive’. But Freddi needs a lot more help to deal with his trauma and depression.
‘Like, because my mental health is pretty bad at the moment.’
His NDIS service provider recently ‘stripped’ him of his support worker who he had ‘a very close bond with’. He’s struggling to find advocacy services to help him with that.
‘There’s not many … out there that will work with us because they think that we’re stupid. They don’t even attempt to take us on.’
Freddi wants to see system change, so that foster agencies and schools give ‘a child with a disability more confidence in their ability’.
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.