One woman told us that her files indicate that her mother soon recognised the mistake she had made in consenting to migration and pleaded in letters for her child's return. The response was that the mother was insane and would not a make a good parent. A number of cases of abuse and neglect were described to us during our visit. Our discussions with Department of Social Welfare officials and the Associate Minister of Social Welfare in New Zealand were constrained by our interlocutors' awareness of litigation being brought against the New Zealand Government. For this reason we were unable to discuss with them the question of the adequacy of monitoring of child migrants' welfare.
Welfare checks do appear to have taken place.
I sought to help those who were homesick, or moved the children where obviously the foster home was not working out. An example was of a girl who went to New Zealand at the age of 10. She gave an account of living on a farm, and working hard both on the farm and in the house. She was beaten for reading books. She was sexually abused and raped.