How Could You? Hall of Shame-Australia-Queensland Foster Brother

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions

From Queensland, Australia,”At the age of just 11, Jessica* [not her real name]was already a veteran of a number of foster care homes.

With her mother a drug addict and criminal, the young girl was moved from place to place and never given the opportunity to know life in a ‘normal’ family.

And so the opportunity to play a classic childhood game of ‘truth or dare’ one night at her foster home a decade ago was one she wanted to enjoy.

That was until Jessica was dared to ‘have sex’ with her foster brother.

Not knowing what to expect, she lay on the floor of her bedroom, only to allegedly be raped by her foster parents’ son – a moment that has traumatised her for life.

‘We were all sitting on the floor in the bedroom that another little foster girl and I were sharing,’ Jessica, from Queensland, told Daily Mail Australia.

‘I can’t remember whose idea it was to play truth or dare.

‘We all sat down and I don’t exactly remember who went first, but we all had a turn and when it was another girl’s turn she said ‘I dare you to have sex with her’.

‘I had no idea what sex was.’

The woman, now in her early twenties, said she reluctantly went along with the dare.

However she quickly felt she was being taken advantage of and began trying to push her foster brother off her.

‘Once I realised what was going on I tried pushing him off me and said “I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to do this… stop it”,’ she said.

‘It went on for a little bit longer, maybe a few seconds, and then he eventually got off me, got up and left the room.’

Traumatised, the schoolgirl woke up the next morning and discretely packed all her belongings into her school bag.

Jessica said as she left for school that morning, she was scared for her life.

She worried about what may happen if her foster parents found out, thinking she may have been locked away inside the house – or even worse.

‘I had to hide as much as I could in my bag,’ she said.

‘I was scared they’d find my clothes or belongings in my bag before I got to school and they stop me before I got a chance to leave.’

After bravely raising the incident with her teacher and principal once at school, Jessica was interviewed by police.

However instead of being cared for and looked after by the officers, the young girl was forced to make a decision about whether she wanted to press charges.

‘The police weren’t all that supportive to be frank, they recorded my interview and stuff like that but at the end of it asked me if I wanted to pursue pressing charges,’ she said.

‘They said if I did that would mean going to court and seeing him [the foster brother] again, which scared the absolute c**p out of me.’

Today, she still feels the daily affects of that incident as she battles depression, anxiety attacks and nightmares.

But while the pain of being allegedly being raped by her foster brother will never leave her, she hopes she can use her terrible experience to help others.

A Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is currently holding public sessions, aiming to help vulnerable youngsters in similar positions to Jessica.

It comes in the wake of foster girl Tiahleigh Palmer’s shocking death, allegedly at the hands of her foster father, after she too was allegedly raped by her foster brother.

Set to ‘examine evidence about child sexual abuse and how institutions responded to allegations of abuse’, legal professionals told Daily Mail Australia they are hopeful the Royal Commission will lead to sustained change.

‘There’s a really long way to go in terms of making that system something that will always work, but there have been some improvements in recent years,’ Kathryn Millist-Spendlove, senior solicitor at Shine lawyers said.

I certainly think the Royal Commission is going to help people who have suffered sexual abuse, with legislative and procedural changes, to create a better experience for sufferers so it doesn’t re-traumatise them.’

Having rekindled her relationship with her reformed mother, Jessica’s life is slowly getting back on track.

She said she hopes the Royal Commission will help provide a safe future for other foster kids.

‘I hope that once they finish with all their enquiries it will help a lot of other foster kids who need it, really really need it,’ she said.

‘Hopefully it can save them.'”

EXCLUSIVE: ‘I had no idea what sex was’: Young woman ‘raped by her foster brother during a game of truth or dare’ when she was 11 years old says she still has nightmares about him

[Daily Mail 11/29/16 by Josh Hanrahan]

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