Her lawyers are investigating a potential claim against the state government over invasive medical examinations at the shelter, and want to talk to witnesses and survivors about a practice they believe was widespread in NSW institutions throughout the 1970s.
“It’s quite likely that this affected any girl who has ever been to one of these centres,” said Robyn Hibbert from Shine Lawyers.
When approached about Tuita’s case, Hibbert said the government had used the laws of the time, which permitted the examinations, “as a shield to protect them from any liability”.
“Just because a piece of legislation allows you to do something [that] does not mean that you can do that thing negligently or in a way that causes harm to somebody,” Hibbert said.
After living in a one-bedder in Sydney’s inner west for a few weeks, her mother reported her missing, and she was charged as “uncontrollable” under the since-abolished Children’s Welfare Act.
At the shelter, she was subjected to virginal testing – a medically invalid and invasive pelvic examination performed to determine whether a girl was sexually active, and therefore liable to be charged with being “exposed to moral danger”.
In 1974, women’s liberationists climbed the roof of the Glebe shelter to demand the controversial facility’s closure. It was demolished four years later, making way for a new children’s court.
Source: 12ft
It happened to me too when I was 16 in 1964. I’ve emailed the journalist and also the lawyer from Shine.
Good on you Patricia! I’ve heard so many stories of my female friends growing up in those dreadful times who were subjected to inhumane treatments. This continues to haunt them.
I’ve had lots of trauma in my life but I don’t seem to have been unduly affected. Perhaps I’m just a tough old boiler!