Meet *Kylie

This young girl witnessed her parents being brutally murdered with gunshots fired to their heads. After this extremely horrifying and traumatic experience, Kylie found herself moving from home to home and taken in by various relatives where the girl was exposed to unstable environments and loss. The vulnerable young girl suffered in silence; nobody knew what happened until she came to the children’s hospital.

“My body had pains and I felt sick, so sick that I had to go to the hospital. My granny took me to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, where doctors ran many tests. I was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and I was fearful about what will happen next, I sat and waited to hear. The doctor spoke to my granny and asked further questions as the test results showed more than the doctor expected.

“This time around, I was visited by the social worker. She helped and supported me to open up about my story and what happened to me after losing both my parents. I cried and told her that my uncle told me not to tell. I didn’t think that it would come out this way and I was afraid. What happened to me, I can’t forget. I was raped; I was raped many times by someone who was supposed to protect me.”

Unless the medical staff at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital remain on par with the specialised training and skills required to identify child protection cases, many little ones like *Kylie will not be able to receive the protection and care that they need.