NEW ZEALAND COLLECTIVE OF
ABUSED IN STATE CARE CHARITABLE TRUST
NZCAST
The Royal Commission Inquiry into Historic Abuse in State Care Report has now been released.
The Abuse in State Care report, released following a comprehensive inquiry from 2018 to June 2024, investigated the abuse and neglect of children, young people, and adults in state and faith-based care between 1950 and 1999. Over 2,300 survivors courageously came forward to share their experiences with the commission.
The Report highlights systemic failures that led to widespread abuse of vulnerable individuals, particularly children. The report, overseen by the Crown Response Unit (DIA), calls for accountability and outlines steps for redress and reform to ensure the safety and dignity of those in state care.
Key Details from the Report:
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Royal Commission of Inquiry says “unimaginable” and widespread abuse in care between 1950 and 2019 amounts to a “national disgrace”.
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200,000 out of an estimated 655,000 in care were abused and many more neglected, with Māori disproportionately affected and subjected to overt and targeted racism.
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Violence and sexual abuse were common, and in some cases children and young people were “trafficked” to members of the public for sex.
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Report calls for apologies from the Government and the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury as global heads of the churches responsible, along with other religious bodies and organisations.
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It also recommends an inquiry into evidence of unmarked graves at former psychiatric hospitals and the establishment of a specialist police unit dedicated to investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the abuse.
Key Statistics from the Report
The abuse and neglect of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders in the care of state- and faith-based institutions has been branded “a national disgrace”.
The long-awaited report of the Abuse in Care Royal Commission, six years in the making, has been released this afternoon.
Aotearoa New Zealand's biggest and costliest inquiry to date, with nearly $170 million in funding so far, its recommendations were delivered to Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden at the end of May.
At least 250,000 are estimated to have been affected.
Opinion - In a significant development, the long-awaited Royal Commission report on state care survivors was tabled in Parliament in July. It shed light on the harrowing experiences of mōrehu who endured abuse and neglect while in state care.
The state cannot replace or replicate the home. I absolutely believe this; I believe it because I've lived in state care 'homes', and I've also heard the same lived-experience of state care echoed throughout my survivor network.
