£95,000: I’d give it all back for a happy childhood

A former Oldham woman — known as Rashana to protect her identity — has been awarded £95,000 compensation in an out-of-court settlement that will send shockwaves through the Asian community.
Here, she tells Chronicle reporter DAWN ECKERSLEY her horrific story

RASHANA says Oldham Council’s social services let her down time after time and she believes her cries for help were ignored because she is Asian.

When she was just a few weeks old, Rashana was rushed to hospital with a retinal haemorrhage and placed on the at-risk register by social services but no action was ever taken to remove her from harm.

Rashana, now 32, said: “Teachers at my school asked me why I was covered in bruises and scratches and I always told them the truth but when the social workers arrived at my home they said I didn’t need to go into care and they left me living in a place where I was constantly beaten and told I was ugly, stupid and worthless.

“I remember when I was six-years-old and the school lollipop lady caught me trying to slash my wrists — it really sticks in my mind because I genuinely thought I would be better off dead.

“My childhood was robbed, I have no happy memories. I didn’t know when my birthday was until I was 15 because it was never celebrated.

“I am speaking out because I would hate to think of another Asian child going through what I went through. In the Asian culture, the family close ranks when there is a problem and outsiders are kept out.

“My aunties, uncles and grandparents knew what my mum was doing to me and they actually used to tell my cousins stories about my abuse to frighten them and get them to behave.

“Social services used to send Asian social workers round to the house but because of the culture they were always going to side with my parents — the system was totally wrong.”

When Rashana was 16, she thought she was pregnant and told her teacher that her older brother had been raping her.

The police and social services were called in and although Rashana told them everything she was still forced to go back home.

Eventually, Rashana put herself into care and moved to an Oldham children’s home before being placed with a foster family in Salford.

On a visit back to the childrens home she was raped by a care worker who was dismissed but never prosecuted even though there were other allegations made against him.

Rashana, who graduated with a degree in business, marketing and communications in July, said: “I left school with no qualifications and I have slowly pieced my life together and done my GCSEs and eventually went to university. I am proud of myself now and it is a really strange feeling.

“When I started legal action against Oldham Council in 2001 I got to see my file which detailed all the things that had happened to me as a child. Social services knew everything about me yet they had never helped me. Revisiting the past like that really made me very low.”

Rashana settled her case shortly before it was due to go before the high court in Manchester and Oldham Council are seeking to claim money from Rashana’s family. She added: “I would give every penny of the £95,000 back in exchange for happy childhood memories.

“I am in limbo because I look Asian yet I have no involvement with Asian culture but I am not accepted by the white community because of how I look.

“All my life I have longed to belong somewhere and I can not see any kind of future for myself.

“I was totally robbed of my childhood and it very nearly broke me. I have come close to killing myself many times and I would hate to think of anyone else going through what I had to go through.

“My family all still live in Oldham as one big happy family but I never go back to visit because I am too scared. That chapter of my life is well and truly over.”

Rashana’s lawyer Richard Scorer, of Manchester firm Pannone, said: “Abuse of any type is never acceptable and although no amount of money can ever compensate for the emotional and physical agony she suffered, it does at least go some way to bringing closure to a troubled period in her life.

“Our client suffered an appalling catalogue of sexual, physical and emotional abuse throughout her childhood and despite repeated evidence of this, and countless opportunities to intervene, Oldham Council failed to protect our client.

“Even when she placed herself voluntarily into Oldham’s care she suffered further abuse.

“ This case has many echoes of the Victoria Climbie scandal, but happened over a much longer period and therefore in many ways the failings by those with responsibility to protect were even greater.”

In the course of the legal proceedings brought against them, Oldham Council brought related proceedings against the Rashana’s family alleging that they should reimburse the council for any payments made and this has also been settled out of court.

Oldham Council declined to comment.