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20 June 2016

A stolen childhood: A story of abuse as a state ward New Zealand

A horrific tale of abuse of children in care half a century ago emerges in a new book, In the Hands of Strangers. Author Beverly Wardle- Jackson talks to Diana Dekker.
Beverly Wardle-Jackson tells the distressing story of living in the Wellington Salvation Army's Florence Booth Children's Home at the age of eight and being regularly thrashed for chewing her fingernails. She was on the way to becoming a state ward. The inspections happened after bath time and on one particularly terrible day she was so worried about the upcoming inspection that she peed in the bath.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/66781693/a-stolen-childhood-a-story-of-abuse-as-a-state-ward