Children in state care being lured into 'trap houses'

The ABC has spoken with experts, advocates and residential care workers as part of a 19-month investigation into the sexual exploitation of children in state care. Inside Queensland’s trap houses where vulnerable children are allegedly drugged and sexually abused By investigative reporter Eden Gillespie Stateline Zoey* has been missing for days, but there are plenty of adults who know exactly where she is. The 14-year-old left residential care and is sleeping on mattresses on the floor of "trap houses", strung out on drugs with other kids.

Warning: This article includes discussion of suicide and descriptions of abuse. The ABC has spoken with experts, advocates and residential care workers as part of a 19-month investigation into the sexual exploitation of children in state care. It's an issue that Queensland's child commissioner Luke Twyford says would "shock" Australians, if they truly knew how "endemic" the problem is.

Zoey's shy smile flashes on the nightly news. Police say they hold serious concerns for her welfare. In Queensland's child protection system, Zoey had 26 placements, including 14 residential care homes and seven foster care families.

( ABC News: Mark Leonardi ) She and other children watch on as adults share needles during drunken parties. Dirty sheets cover the windows, holes are punched into graffiti-covered walls, and syringes are strewn across the floor. Zoey says she stayed at several of these party houses over the years.

"They got us hooked on drugs, so we'd keep coming back, Zoey said. "We'd be off our faces — bad things would happen during those parties. A trap house is slang for a home where illegal drugs are used and sold.

Experts say vulnerable children are being lured to these environments and preyed upon under the guise of parties. At the time, her guardian was the Queensland government. She had been staying in residential care, or "resicare", where young people live with other children in houses supervised by workers.

Zoey had her first contact with the child safety system at four weeks old. ( ABC News: Mark Leonardi ) But she felt "unsafe, unheard and uncared for" in those homes, so she left. "The state was my parent, but it didn't act like one, she said.

Hearing from those with experience of the system is rare. Now 18, Zoey says she contacted the ABC to expose what she sees as systemic failures. Zoey has experienced more trauma in her young life than most adults ever will.

She knows Queensland's child protection system well. She bounced around it all her life. During that time, she had 26 placements, including 14 residential care homes and seven different foster care families.

Zoey had her first contact with the child safety system at four weeks old. There was violence at home, and some adults in her life struggled with substance abuse and mental health concerns. At the age of three, she was removed from her parents again when drug utensils were found in her nappy bag. But instead of finding a stable home, she was placed in foster care where she was later "emotionally harmed.