The Daryl Brougham Story - Rising Above Abuse.

This story is a story of an abuse survivor and author that described his harrowing experience in state care which led to his best seller book "Through the Eyes of a Foster Child: My Childhood in Over 30 New Zealand Homes by Brougham, Daryl."

Daryl Brougham went into state care as an infant. Daryl Brougham was is over 30 foster placements when he was a foster child. When he was ten, Daryl was told by a social worker that he was useless and would end up in jail. By 1997, he had attended 27 schools, been through over 30 social workers and lived in more than 30 different foster homes. During his 18 years as a state ward, he was repeatedly sexual, physical, emotional and psychological abused. Daryl rose above all the abuse and proved that social worker wrong. Daryl didn’t end up in prison. Instead, he vowed to become a better social worker than his detractor. He studied social work at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa in Mangere and graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work (Biculturalism in Practice).

As a boy Daryl Brougham was starved, forced to eat spiders and made to cut the lawn with a pair of scissors while in foster care. But 18 years of repeated physical, sexual, psychological and emotional abuse were not enough to break his spirit. This traumatic period in his life prompted himto now make it his life's mission to enact positive change.

Photo Credit: twitter.com/daznavy

"If I can change the lives of even 100 children out of the 3800 currently in foster care then I will have achieved something," he said.

In 2011 Brougham began a historical claim with the Ministry of Social Development.

In February 2015 he received an official apology from the ministry and $70,000 in compensation. In the apology letter Ministry of Social Development chief executive Brendan Boyle said: "I want to formally acknowledge that what happened to you while you were in care was not acceptable and to sincerely apologize that you were not kept safe".

"A lot of neglect happened, a lot of punishments. I've had to eat spiders at one stage, I've had to cut grass with a pair of scissors . . . there were periods of starvation"

Despite his past Brougham feels no animosity towards the organisations that failed him. "There are so many good places out there, but unfortunately through my experiences I've witnessed more bad than good. "I don't have anything against the ministry. I think what they do is a wonderful job. For me I just want change within foster care and state care."

At the time of beginning his historical claim process, Brougham also began studying towards a Bachelor's degree in social work.

"They understood their role but they didn't understand what actual foster care feels like, tastes like or even smells like."

Broughan graduates from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa this year and by providing talks with childcare organisations about his experiences, he seeks to begin change from the inside out.

He feels that his past experiences give him a responsibility to help develop social change.

"I decided to show social workers what its actually like in foster care.

"I talk about what it's like to be a foster child and I talk about the importance of how you feel at the time.

"I give them signposts on what to look out for in regards to their children in care, when things are going well and when they're not so they have some indication."

Broughan said it scares him to know that social workers do not have a complete picture of state care.

"The education sector, I believe, does not teach as much as they should. I think it needs to be done deeper."

Earlier this month Social Development Minister Anne Tolley announced that Child Youth and Family is set for a major overhaul.

A panel has been established to modernise the organisation and includes senior public servant Paula Rebstock, Police Commissioner Mike Bush, Ministry of Social Development's chief science advisor Professor Richie Poulton, former Maori Party chief of staff Helen Leahy and Who Cares chief executive Duncan Dunlop.

When Brougham saw the list he was concerned the panel appeared to be fulll of "a lot of academics".

"I saw no social work, I saw no foster care, I saw none of that experience there.

"I believe that they need ex-managers of Child Youth and Family, I believe they need social work input very strongly . . . they know what it will take to do the overhaul."T

"There was a lot of beatings in a lot of houses," Brougham said.

"A lot of neglect happened, a lot of punishments. I've had to eat spiders at one stage, I've had to cut grass with a pair of scissors . . . there were periods of starvation"

Despite his past Brougham feels no animosity towards the organisations that failed him.

"There are so many good places out there, but unfortunately through my experiences I've witnessed more bad than good.

"I don't have anything against the ministry. I think what they do is a wonderful job. For me I just want change within foster care and state care."

At the time of beginning his historical claim process, Brougham also began studying towards a Bachelor's degree in social work.

"When I went for my practicum in Child Youth and Family I noticed there were a lack of resources, case loads are too high and for me personally I noticed a lot of social workers never understood the concept of foster care. "They understood their role but they didn't understand what actual foster care feels like, tastes like or even smells like."