{"id":394173,"date":"2026-01-06T00:03:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T00:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/394173\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T00:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T00:03:18","slug":"mother-of-13yo-who-fell-pregnant-in-state-care-says-system-ruining-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/394173\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother of 13yo who fell pregnant in state care says system ‘ruining lives’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lucy (not her real name) has been deemed a danger to her children.<\/p>\n

Her teenage daughters, Sadie and Hannah (not their real names), were taken from home after state authorities decided it was unsafe.<\/p>\n

But Lucy says her teenagers are more at risk living in a group house with other state wards, known as a residential care unit.<\/p>\n

“They used to go to school; they used to go to activities,” Lucy said.<\/p>\n

“[Now] they don’t go to school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“They’re smoking, they’re doing drugs, and drinking alcohol.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Lucy says her daughters have started smoking and drinking alcohol in state care. (ABC News: Graphic by Sharon Gordon)<\/p>\n

‘Ruining two kids’ lives’<\/p>\n

Court documents reveal that, at the age of 13, Sadie was leaving residential care to “travel across Victoria at night to meet a variety of different men and women”.<\/p>\n

Workers reported that Sadie was spending time with two “known male persons of interest to Child Protection”.<\/p>\n

Not long after, Sadie reported being “sexually assaulted and raped” by the same two males, aged 17 and 19.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That same month, Sadie reported another sexual assault and rape, this time from an “unknown male”.<\/p>\n

Sadie became pregnant at 13 years old.<\/p>\n

A Victoria Police spokesperson said they could not comment on individual cases for privacy reasons.<\/p>\n

If you or anyone you know needs help:Kids Helpline<\/a>: 1800 551 800Police: 000 (triple-zero)Headspace <\/a>on 1800 650 890ReachOut: au.reachout.com<\/a>Bravehearts<\/a>: 1800 272 831\u00a0Lifeline<\/a> on 13 11 14<\/p>\n

Lucy said the child protection system catastrophically failed.<\/p>\n

“You’ve had my child raped, you’ve got her pregnant at 13,” she said.<\/p>\n

“You’re setting the baby up to go in the system before it’s even born, so you’re ruining two kids’ lives.”\"A<\/p>\n

Lucy says she is deeply concerned about how her daughter will take care of a child. (ABC News: Graphic by Sharon Gordon)<\/p>\n

Sadie’s residential care provider declined to comment for legal reasons.<\/p>\n

The ABC is not naming the organisation to avoid identifying Sadie.<\/p>\n

Lucy claims Sadie’s older sister, Hannah, was also targeted and groomed while in state care.<\/p>\n

In social media videos seen by the ABC, a man in his 20s describes 15-year-old Hannah as his “girlfriend”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Outgoing National Commissioner for Children, Anne Hollonds, said the “invisible” children of residential care, like Sadie and Hannah, were at risk every day.<\/p>\n

“Child sexual exploitation in residential child care is a hidden problem that hasn’t been properly addressed to date in Australia,” Ms Hollonds said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Lucy says it is stressful wondering about her daughters’ wellbeing. (ABC News: Graphic by Sharon Gordon)<\/p>\n

‘They’re not uncommon’\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Resi”, as it’s dubbed in the sector, has been the subject of numerous reports and inquiries<\/a> around Australia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is a last resort for about 3,200 children around the country who cannot live at home, and can include children as young as seven.<\/p>\n

It can cost up to $1 million per child each year, according to a Productivity Commission report from the 2024\u20132025 financial year.<\/p>\n

Child sexual exploitation expert Conrad Townson has been tracking children in residential care through a national research project called Program Paradigm.<\/p>\n

“We frequently see cases where young people [from residential care] will be trafficked,” Mr Townson said.\"Man<\/p>\n

Conrad Townson says grooming and abuse of children is happening in every community. (Supplied: Project Paradigm)<\/p>\n

Mr Townson cited the example of a 14-year-old Queensland girl who attempted to meet an adult man interstate after being coerced into purchasing airline tickets.<\/p>\n

The child was intercepted by police before she could leave the state.<\/p>\n

“[Cases like this], they’re not uncommon,” Mr Townson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In response to questions about Sadie and Hannah’s safety, a Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) spokesperson said all allegations of sexual abuse were reported to police.<\/p>\n

The department said it could not comment on individual cases.<\/p>\n

Do you know more? Contact Coco Veldkamp on email cocoveldkamp@proton.me<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Free to roam\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Victoria, residential care is not a secure facility, and workers do not have the power to stop children from leaving, even at night.<\/p>\n

The ABC understands departmental policy means children in care “retain the same rights to freedom of movement as the wider community”.<\/p>\n

Experts said that the policy exposed resi kids to harm.<\/p>\n

A 2021 report by the Victorian Children’s Commissioner found there were more than 2,000 reports of children in residential care going missing, and more than 7,000 application warrants to find them.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Lucy says her daughters often leave their residential care houses using public transport. (ABC News: Graphic by Sharon Gordon)<\/p>\n

Ms Hollonds said that was unacceptable.<\/p>\n

“The state, who is their guardian, doesn’t really know where they’ve gone and we find with these cases that they’re often then involved with some kind of child trafficking,” she said.<\/p>\n

Mr Townson estimated roughly 12,500 children in “out of home care”, which includes residential care, went missing each year.<\/p>\n

In 2020, it was estimated that 600 children living in state care in Victoria were reported missing to police each year.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr Townson said the Victorian government’s “freedom of movement” approach for children in state care was a “cop out”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“What would be expected of a reasonable parent?” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Paedophiles gaining ‘online access’<\/p>\n

Lucy claimed her daughters went missing from residential care for weeks at a time.<\/p>\n

The Victorian mother said men targeted her daughters through social media, which they accessed through smartphones given to them by resi care providers.<\/p>\n

She said older men had made sexually suggestive comments openly on her daughter’s social media posts.<\/p>\n

Lucy said residential workers told her they were aware this was happening but could not stop it.<\/p>\n

“I’ve got to sit at home knowing my child’s getting groomed,” she said.<\/p>\n

Mr Townson said resi kids had little protection from online predators.<\/p>\n

“Government child protection departments who place these young people in care will often be the ones providing the phones, without actually taking [safety] measures,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There’s often no consideration given to actual safety planning, and asking important questions like, ‘What is this young person going to be accessing?’, ‘What are they allowed to access?'”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Social media threatens the safety of children in residential care, says Conrad Townson. (ABC News: Graphic by Sharon Gordon)<\/p>\n

Victoria Police said more than 10,000 police had undertaken training to disrupt child sexual exploitation.<\/p>\n

‘Invisible’ children<\/p>\n

Ms Hollonds said the targeted child trafficking and sexual exploitation of children in residential care was “a human rights issue” that the state and federal government were failing to address.<\/p>\n

“There just seems to be a bit of a blind spot here where these children don’t get the same attention,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Hollonds said the children in residential care needed to be a national priority.<\/p>\n

“They are essentially invisible,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lucy (not her real name) has been deemed a danger to her children. Her teenage daughters, Sadie and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,27089,210674,6013,2344,44,210673,62792,210675,518],"class_list":["post-394173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-child-protection","tag-department-of-families-fairness-and-housing","tag-drug","tag-foster","tag-news","tag-resi-care","tag-residential-care","tag-therapeutic","tag-trauma"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}