‘Alarm bells’: The foster child who’s won a settlement from the state

Lauren Eslick spent most of her childhood with foster parents whose punishments included hitting her, forcing her to hold a telephone book above her head and locking her in a tent.

Her ward case file from the Department of Communities and Justice shows she was left in a long-term placement from age five to 18 despite the department believing her to be at risk of harm and suitable alternative care being available with her maternal grandparents.

Lauren Eslick, 27, received a confidential settlement from the Department of Communities and Justice for her experiences in foster care. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Now Eslick, 27, has received a confidential payout from the state government, which had parental responsibility after removing her from her birth mother because of violence and drug use.

Eslick said she wanted to share her story because many people assume foster children are “bad kids” or told her she should be grateful.

“You can have a family that looks perfect but inside the family it’s horrible and manipulative,” Eslick said. “We looked like this nice little church family ... I was sent to a private school.”

The case file, which is more than 1100 pages long, states she was at risk of harm because of “inappropriate methods of discipline” and describes her foster carers as “inexperienced” and her foster mother as “authoritarian”.

The case file also shows the foster carers repeatedly told the department they were not coping and asked for greater support and assistance, which was not always forthcoming.

The foster carers have declined to comment.

The file details how various friends, relatives and professionals made several complaints to child protection services about the foster carers’ treatment of Eslick, including concerns about “bruises the size of handprints” when Eslick was nine or 10 years old.

In one investigation in 2005, both carers admitted to the department they hit Eslick with an open hand and at least once with a belt, despite being aware it was against department policy. They admitted another relative had also hit Eslick with a hairbrush.

However, the carers denied leaving bruises, and Eslick at the time told her caseworker she hurt herself climbing in or out of her bunk bed.

Lauren Eslick as a child. She became a ward of the state at age five and was placed in foster care.

In the same investigation, the foster father admitted he had forced Eslick to stand in the corner holding a telephone book above her head for 10 minutes in an attempt to force her to confess to stealing.

Also in 2005, the foster mother admitted to locking Eslick in a tent inside her bedroom, while Eslick said at the time she had been locked outside in the tent on a hot day while her foster mother hosted a baby group inside the house. Eslick said being locked in the tent without food, water or a toilet was a regular occurrence.

One report complaint to child protection services alleged Eslick “suffered regular humiliation in front of people beyond the family”, but the department could not substantiate this.

The case file notes the foster parents sometimes threatened to return Eslick to the department, while other times they said they wanted to adopt her permanently.

Eslick’s lawyer, Danielle De Paoli from Maurice Blackburn, said it was “incomprehensible” that the department did not remove Eslick from the placement.

“There are so many alarm bells in those records that I find it really shocking that no action was taken,” De Paoli said.

“It shines a light on the fact that the department just needs to be appropriately resourced. They conducted their own investigations, they substantiated the claims, they marked that the kids were at further risk of harm, but because of a resourcing issue, it’s not a priority.”

Eslick’s maternal grandparents applied to be kinship carers for Eslick and were assessed as suitable but this did not occur. They later became foster carers for three other children.

The case file shows Eslick as a child and teenager told her caseworkers she wanted to remain with her foster carers. She now says she never saw any single caseworker for more than 12 months and her foster parents coached her on what to say.

She started self-harming as a teenager and has survived several suicide attempts but credits her love and care for her son, now the same age as when she was first taken into care, for helping her survive difficult times.

As an adult, Eslick spent more than 12 months trying to get her case file from the department but was unsuccessful until she got a lawyer involved. The department agreed to settle out of court almost immediately.

De Paoli said this case stood out because it was so recent, whereas many other cases referred to historic treatment by foster parents in the 1950s to 1970s.

De Paoli said the settlement sums in these cases were confidential but usually more generous than the National Redress Scheme for victims of institutional sexual abuse, which has an average payout of $80,000 and a cap of $150,000. It is not alleged that Eslick was sexually abused in foster care.

A DCJ spokesperson said the department worked with victim-survivors and their legal representatives to resolve claims as quickly as possible in a trauma-informed way. The department could not comment on individual cases.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.