Mia is finally home

An emotional moment for Mia and her family

It was a very emotional moment when *Mia was reunited with her family after 3 years. Her family thought she was dead, and they had worn black clothes to show their sorrow and mourned for her.

This is the story of Mia, a child survivor of sexual abuse, who is now safe and reunited with her family.

Mia’s parents had separated when she was little. Mia’s father had moved to the city where he found a job. He then brought Mia to stay with him, promising his teenage daughter a better life and good education. However, those promises were not fulfilled. Instead, Mia was raped on several occasions by her
biological father and abused physically by him and his new wife. The sexual abuse by the father was brought to light and reported to the community leaders, and the case was mediated at that level, but the abuse continued.

After a few years of experiencing ongoing abuse, Mia felt the longing to be reunited with her mother and her family. That’s when she escaped to get help from the nearest police station. She was taken to a safe house for
accommodation until she was referred to Bel isi PNG Case Management Centre (operated by Femili PNG) to manage her case. A Case Worker was assigned to work closely with Mia in close collaboration with the Child Protection Officer from Welfare to help her with her case and access other assistance.  However, she had to spend more than a year at different safe houses due to the complexity of her case.

For Mia, being away from family whom she grew up with was hard. And though she wished to get justice for the abuse she went through, she also dreamt of being with her family for love and support. Family tracing and risk assessments were done but it was very challenging because the place where the child and her family come from was a very remote area with no road access. There was a need for her Case Worker to travel to the respective province to do an actual family tracing and coordination with respective service providers for
more accurate family location. It took two months for the Case Worker to identify Mia’s family location and contact, and finally she was reintegrated back to her family. The effort was supported by the Provincial Community Development Advisor, Ms. Siviri Lalave.

It was a very emotional moment as Mia arrived home to her family, who all thought she was dead. Mia and the team who accompanied her were not only received by the family, but by the whole community. Mia’s family expressed that they will look after her and support her to do her studies. It was agreed that Femili PNG and Mia’s family will continue to follow up with the case to ensure that justice is served.

Ms. Lalave acknowledged the efforts that Femili PNG through the Bel isi PNG Case Management Centre and Safe House put into helping the client. She said, ‘’We appreciate what Femili PNG is doing to help the Government bridge the gaps that we have and assist us where we see that we can’t do much because
of situations such as financial crisis and limited resources.’’ Ms. Lalave acknowledged the long journey travelled just to reunite one client with her family. Ms Lalave added, ‘’one life is important, one life is special, one life is valuable.’’

Mia is looking forward to continuing her studies and becoming a Social Worker so she can help others.