The sisters who were not believed

Mihi Forbes writes:

The two heroes of this story are the big sisters, Storm and Jubilee Dawson.

Justice Moore’s report released to the public this week, reveals their unwavering commitment to finding their siblings. They raised the alarm and kept raising it, they spoke up when adults and agencies, charged with protecting their younger siblings failed to speak up and failed to listen, and they refused to give up on them.

In return the public shunned them, the media harassed them, the Police ignored them, Oranga Tamariki dismissed them and for nearly four years they lived with the guilt of not being able to bring their teina and tungāne home.

Of course, their actions should have been more than enough to prevent the abduction of their siblings for a miserable 1,358 days in the bush.

The big sisters are heroes for their advocacy of behalf of their (half) siblings.

We first met Jubilee Dawson in July 2023, as experienced journalists we found Jubilee extremely cautious, she had no faith in the media and little trust in the public. Who could blame her? The online abuse and ugly rumours being spread about her mother and whānau through the community were appalling. Both the media and government agencies seemed to minimise or completely ignore Cat’s relationship and mana as the children’s mum. In all our years reporting we had never witnessed a situation quite like this. Where victims were treated with such utter disregard.

Shame.

I have to admit I was one of those. Not in relations to the big sisters who I had never heard of, but in relation to the mother. I accepted the narrative about her, without any evidence if it was true or not. I still don’t know if it was. But the narrative (initially) was that he was protecting the kids from her, when in reality he was the threat.

But even more unforgivable, were the warnings Storm and Jubilee raised with Oranga Tamariki about Tom Phillips. Every single one was dismissed or ignored. They told Oranga Tamariki they were concerned about Phillips’ controlling, abusive behaviour, and his neglect of their siblings’ basic needs. They asked Oranga Tamariki to conduct an urgent visit to the Phillips home after the first abduction. Oranga Tamariki refused.

They said how he was isolating the children from them and their mother. Weeks into the second abduction they pleaded with Oranga Tamariki that this had gone on too long, they had missed Christmas, a birthday and this was the longest they had ever gone without speaking to their siblings.

But no one took them seriously, no social worker or kaimahi at Oranga Tamariki believed their warnings, they simply recorded their interactions which have now made the basis of the independent report.

Even if the mother did have issues (and I don’t know if she did) that made her unreliable, there is nothing to suggest the big sisters were unreliable. They were ignored, and it is shameful they were.