Skip to main content Skip to navigation within this section
Abuse in Care - Royal Commission of Inquiry

Abuse in Care - Royal Commission of Inquiry

This Royal Commission is an independent inquiry into abuse in state care and in the care of faith-based institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand.

0800 222 727

Weekdays 8:30am - 4:30pm

Share your experience Kōrerotia mai tō wheako
  • About the Royal Commission Mō te Kōmihana a te Karauna
    • What the Royal Commission is about
    • How it works
    • Te Tiriti o Waitangi
    • Te Taumata
    • Survivor Advisory Group
    • Terms of Reference
    • Working with Māori
    • Our people
    • Deaf community
    • Pacific community
    • Disability and Mental Health community
  • Our inquiries Ā mātou uiui
    • Foster Care
    • Māori experiences
    • Pacific peoples experiences
    • Disability and mental health
    • State and faith-based redress
    • Children's State residential care
    • State psychiatric care
    • Protestant and Other Faiths
    • Catholic Church
    • Youth Justice care
  • Our progress Kauneketanga
    • Reports
    • News
    • Timeline
    • Document Library
    • Latest updates
    • Engagement
  • Get involved Kia whai wāhi mai
    • Sharing your experience
    • Sharing your experience from prison
  • For survivors Mā ngā purapura ora
    • Getting help and support
    • Legal assistance
    • Questions and answers
    • Survivor stories
    • Easy Read
Quick Exit
AdobeStock 101472581
  • Home
  • Our progress
  • Reports
  • (English) He Purapura Ora, he Māra Tipu
  • Volume 1
  • 2.5 Survivors’ experiences of State and faith redress processes
  • Advocacy and financial help hit and miss
Listen

Advocacy and financial help hit and miss

Survivors’ experiences of legal assistance and advocacy varied. Some had dedicated legal help from lawyers well versed in abuse in care cases. Others struggled to find lawyers with experience, and as a result occasionally ended up accepting unnecessarily small settlements. Some were offered help with the cost of legal advice, others not. Some chose to seek legal aid, while others were deterred by the prospect of the debt they would be left with. Still others relied on family members and counsellors to help them get and interpret records and lodge claims. All of this placed pressure on claimants’ time, energy and resources. Institutions, meanwhile, had plenty of all three. Faith-based institutions were inconsistent about contributing to legal costs.

Some survivors said they were encouraged to get independent legal advice, while others said they were not. Those who did get advice sometimes didn’t fully understand the meaning of agreements they signed. One survivor said she was so angry when she received her settlement offer from the Ministry of Social Development that she did not read the agreement closely and didn’t see a lawyer about what the offer meant. “I don’t remember [the ministry] telling me that I should see a lawyer.”

Mrs N, who was sexually abused at an Anglican school, said she didn’t have a lawyer and wasn’t offered legal advice. She asked to have her counsellor as her support person, but the church would not pay the cost and so she ended up with a church-nominated person – an outcome she found damaging.

Deaf and disabled survivors often rely on advocacy services when navigating redress processes. Some face extra difficulties in finding a lawyer who is familiar with issues facing disabled people. Current processes do not provide the access to advocacy services required to enable disabled survivors to have control and choice as they navigate redress processes, and to ensure equitable outcomes for disabled survivors. James Packer, who is Deaf and has Asperger’s syndrome, said an advocate might have assisted him at the outset of his claim with the Ministry of Education. He said he knew nothing about how to make a claim and could not go to any designated organisation or person for support.

No institution routinely offered survivors financial advice about what to do with their settlement money, something that would have been highly useful for some survivors who had struggled to manage money well for most of their lives. Mark Goold said he was not offered any financial advice, but simply asked for his bank account number. Kathleen O’Connor also said she received no offer of financial advice, but felt strongly that organisations such as ACC and the Ministry of Social Development should offer budgeting advice to people who received payments. The Ministry of Social Development and Oranga Tamariki said they put claimants in touch with financial advisory services on a case-by-case basis. The other agencies and faith-based institutions said they did not offer financial advice with their settlement payments.

 

Next: Lack of independence or independent review

2.5 Survivors’ experiences of State and faith redress processes
  • 2.5: Survivors’ experiences of State and faith redress processes
  • Māori faces and tikanga values nowhere to be seen
  • Pacific survivors’ culture overlooked
  • Redress unobtainable for most Deaf and disabled people
  • Survivors feel without a voice in way redress processes work
  • Survivors feel left in the dark by inadequate information and contact
  • Lack of manaakitanga through stressful process
  • Advocacy and financial help hit and miss
  • Lack of independence or independent review
  • Frustration at lack of accountability
  • Failure to take preventive action and make system change
  • Long delays a cause of frustration
  • Apologies not meaningful
  • Financial payments are inadequate
  • Redress was inadequate to restore mana or oranga
  • No ability to respond to harm to whānau
  • Survivors felt powerless
  • Redress processes have caused further harm

So far, over 900 survivors have shared their experience. Join them. Ā mohoa nei, neke atu i te 900 purapura ora kua kōrero mai i ō rātou haerenga. Hono mai.

We cannot make any findings, reach conclusions or make recommendations without hearing the voices of those who have the lived experience of state or faith-based care.

Share your experience Kōrerotia mai tō wheako
0800 222 727 contact@abuseincare.org.nz
Connect with us
  • Find us on Facebook
  • Follow us on LinkedIn

  • Privacy policy
  • Terms
  • Accessibility
  • Jobs
  • Media
  • Contact us

  • Mō te Kōmihana a te Karauna About the Royal Commission
    • What the Royal Commission is about
    • How it works
    • Te Tiriti o Waitangi
    • Te Taumata
    • Survivor Advisory Group
    • Terms of Reference
    • Working with Māori
    • Our people
    • Deaf community
    • Pacific community
  • Ā mātou uiui Our inquiries
    • Māori experiences
    • Pacific People's experiences
    • Disabled peoples experience
    • State and faith-based redress
    • State psychiatric care
    • Children's State residential care
    • Anglican Church
    • Catholic Church
  • Kauneketanga Our progress
    • Latest updates
    • Reports
    • News
    • Timeline
    • Document Library
  • Kia whai wāhi mai Get involved
    • Sharing your experience
    • Sharing your experience from prison
  • Mā ngā purapura ora For survivors
    • Getting help and support
    • Legal assistance
    • Questions and answers
    • Survivor stories

If you would like to share your experience or have any questions about being involved please call our Contact Centre on 0800 222 727 weekdays 8:30am to 4:30pm (NZT) excluding public holidays or email: contact@abuseincare.org.nz. Anyone taking part in an investigation will be offered wellbeing support.


© 2022 Abuse in Care - Royal Commission of Inquiry