“Community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another”
– Henry Nouwen
Eight years after she first sought help, Kristy Wilson has finally won weekly compensation for the childhood sexual abuse she suffered. But her case has highlighted a disputed new ACC approach that denies some survivors the payment – because ACC…
For decades, a small group of specialists at Starship Hospital’s child protection unit have played a central role in some of NZ’s most serious physical child abuse cases. Their opinions trigger police investigations, child removals, criminal prosecutions and prison sentences.…
An abuse survivor feels as if he has been stabbed with a “sharp, long, bladed knife to the back” after his trial was aborted at the 11th hour due to an unprecedented legal tactic by the Christian Brothers. Last week,…
Twisted and raised scars run across the top of Alan Nixon’s hands like topographical maps of the abuse in his past. The marks are the physical reminders of what the Brothers of St John of God did to him as…
It was a bad headline for the Government: deep job cuts in the family and sexual violence sector. But what will the cuts actually do, and has the prevention taskforce made any difference? Isaac Davison reports Ten years ago, the…
A landmark new body of research suggests New Zealand may have spent decades measuring the wrong thing – and asking the wrong people – about family violence. Paula Penfold investigates.
Police have prosecuted fewer than one in ten of the cases referred from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. The inquiry found at least 200,000 people were abused, and even more neglected, by the state and faith-based…
A sexual abuse support foundation says survivors are at risk as it braces for funding cuts in the new year. HELP Auckland will have $380,000 less to work with in 2026, after the government announced it would redirect $1.7 million…
Less than a third of the government’s $774 million abuse in care redress and reform package will end up in the pockets of survivors. Figures obtained by RNZ revealed only $205m was earmarked for paying new claims with $52m to…
The Government plans to pass a law making it harder for state abuse survivors with a history of violent or serious offending to access redress – something a lawyer and survivor advocate describes as “unjust, discriminatory, and contrary to the…
A Male Survivor’s Feedback on a Safe Space to Kōrero and Share His Struggles The Tāne Chat Room Caravan stands as a beacon of hope and support, offering a sanctuary where individuals like myself can korero speak openly and authentically…
A Lake Alice survivor has asked the High Court to review Cabinet’s decision on redress and formally find it breaches his international and domestic human rights. Flaxmere man Malcolm Richards was drugged, raped, beaten and shocked at the Manawatū psychiatric…
