Sexually abused mom fears she will lose custody of son (Adelaide, Australia)

Of course, the father is an UNNAMED DAD. And as usual, the victims of this crime are threatened with impunity, while the real criminals enjoy business as usual.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/abused-mother-fears-for-her-son-after-warning/story-e6frea83-1226188137573

Abused mother fears she will lose son

by: Investigations editor Bryan Littley

From: The Advertiser November 08, 2011 12:00AM

THE young mother who claims she was sexually abused by a case worker while a ward of the state now faces losing her son for telling the story.

She says the FamiliesSA social worker who oversees her care of her second son, phoned her yesterday morning in response to her story, which was revealed in The Advertiser.

"He said if I keep going to the press he is going to write up a report on it ... I take it as a threat," the 21-year-old said.

"He said he will put it under another concern that he has regarding my care of (her toddler son) and he warned me about the limits I'm pushing myself to and the effect that will have on (her son).

"He said he did not think talking to media was a good idea.

"He said if I continue to talk to the media then there could be effects on (my son) ... then they might have to intervene in the care of him."

The mother looks after her second child, 18 months, who is under the guardianship of the minister.

Her first son, almost three, is also under the guardianship of the minister and is cared for by the parents of the father of the two boys.

The father is a former youth case worker with Southern Junction Centre who FamiliesSA workers have acknowledged abused his position of authority to begin a relationship with the woman when she was 14.

The FamiliesSA social worker who rang the mother and raised concerns about her telling her story is among a number of department staff who have submitted reports to the Youth Court that show the department knew the father of the children had abused his position when caring for the woman as a teen.

Despite FamiliesSA staff first recognising the misconduct of the man three years ago, his behaviour was not referred to the Special Investigations Unit set up to tackle the abuse of children in state care.

Yesterday, the Department of Communities and Social Inclusion could not confirm if there had been any investigation of the claims.

The mother says she plans to take legal action against FamiliesSA for its failure to protect her while she was under the guardianship of the minister. FamiliesSA executive director David Waterford said it had no policy that discouraged clients from speaking to the media.