Marie Arbuckle Statement
We act on behalf of Marie Arbuckle and a number of other survivors of Foster Home abuse in this jurisdiction. They are the forgotten victims of a system which left many vulnerable young persons at the mercy of abusive foster parents and in Marie’s case, abusive sons of Foster parents.
We support Marie’s call for an inquiry into this hitherto unreported sector of abuse. Marie’s difficult life narrative touches upon all manner of Church, Institutional and State sexual, physical and mental abuse.
She has participated in the HIA Redress scheme and also presents as a survivor entitled to apply for Redress in the pending Mother and Baby Home Scheme but a substantial part of her early life was spent in an appallingly hostile abusive Foster Home environment. She blames Social Services for abandoning her to her fate.
Solicitor Kevin Winters commenting on the call for a new initiative said “the State did ‘a Pontius Pilate’ in washing their hands of young vulnerable children like Marie. Her story is heartbreaking but The Executive can do the right thing by her and countless others by agreeing to carry out a scoping research exercise on the viability of a bespoke inquiry into systemic Foster Home failings. To compound her frustration Social Services lost her records and delayed in reuniting her with her son all of which will be the subject of separate legal agitation. We commend her bravery in speaking out.”
Kevin Winters
KRW Law LLP