Our stories
Like strands of harakeke woven together, the shared and lived experiences of those affected by abuse create a strong, collective voice that guides understanding and drives meaningful change for vulnerable adults.
Viv was a caring woman who following her husband’s death was lonely. She was targeted by, and then married, a man who stripped her of her assets and failed to provide appropriate care for her increasing confusion, actively restricting her support and access to family who held Power of attorney. As a result, Viv’s health deteriorated and she became a shell of the woman she had been; frightened; unable to speak for herself, unable to challenge her husband and isolated from friends and family. Viv’s loving and caring family were powerless to legally intervene despite seeking help from 30 plus agencies and businesses all of whom recognised the issue but were without adequate powers to assist and often without sufficient skills and experience to help.
Allan was a therapist who developed dementia and after long term care at home had to move to residential care due to his aggression. The residential facility failed to provide personalised care and he was quickly institutionalised and placed in incontinence pads, prevented from any self determined activity, had his life long beard removed and fed food inappropriate for his beliefs.
He became distressed and frustrated making his aggression worse and was subsequently heavily medicated. The facility failed to provide end of life care and as a result he died in pain. The whanau wanted to make sure this didn’t happen to anyone else and was concerned about the residents of the facility. They found no agency had the power to investigate abuse in real time.
Sarah had a loving and caring family. She became physically frail. Her son visited daily and organised support for her to get up and go to bed, shower and be provided with hot meals. She was physically well cared for. However, Sarah was largely confined to a lazyboy chair in front of the TV, was lonely and frightened as the house was left unlocked for the various agency carers who appeared to change at frequent intervals.
She told the GP and her family she wanted to go into residential care. The family felt Sarah and her late husband had worked hard to own a house and that she should not be required to sell it to pay for residential care. Sarah was found by an agency carer having taken her own life with an overdose of medication.
