Someone's Mum has been found

[cherples]

Hopefully her family want to find her too

Decades of living on the street and abuse at the hands of those she loved made Noeline McCarron wonder if she could keep going. Then someone offered her a helping hand.

Leaning on a floral-print umbrella like a cane, Noeline McCarron hobbles towards a couch and sits quietly.

She has a slight hunch in her back and leans forward as she sits.

In her left hand she's clasping onto a trucker hat. A tropical shower looms outside as dark clouds gather and she's come prepared.

Thongs expose her battered feet which peek out from the bottom of a long black dress.

Her skin is worn and she speaks slowly, punctuating her words with a husky, persistent cough.

At 53, specks of grey are starting to emerge through her thick brown hair which she keeps short.

Now 16 months sober, Noeline says her senses are coming back to her.

She can smell and taste again and is observing things she had never seen before. More importantly, her state of mind is the best it has ever been.

"I'm enjoying everything," she says. "Getting up without a hangover, looking around and seeing four walls. I'm doing something I can be proud of."

Noeline moved to Australia in 1981, migrating from the North Island of New Zealand.

She married soon after and started a family in Sydney's western suburbs with her husband.

But the relationship didn't last.

"Things just didn't work out," she says.

"It's hard for me to say but I had to abandon my children to get out of domestic violence.

"I just ended up roaming anywhere."

the story continues at

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/03/09/3711884.htm?site=farnorth

[the_hawk*]

even if she had to abandon the kids to escape domestic violence which in the 1980s was not a hard thing to do with lots of help from center link and woman's shelter and advisory groups that were around then, it doesn't explain why she didn't do something with her life in the last 30 years. 

[the_hawk*]

and in the 1980s they kept good records and with a name and birth date its not hard to trace someone.

[cherples]

Did you read the story?

I think not.

[lionrose.7]

That is a very sad story, I hope the rest of her life, will be better

[krazy.kiwi]

even if she had to abandon the kids to escape domestic violence which in the 1980s was not a hard thing to do with lots of help from center link and woman's shelter and advisory groups that were around then, it doesn't explain why she didn't do something with her life in the last 30 years. 

In hindsight that is probably correct, but not everyone can see their options at the time.  Even now people can't get the help they need as they are not in the right headspace to be helped IYKWIM.

[the_hawk*]

Hi krazy my comments may be harsh as I don't know the person. it just seems strange, If it happened in the 50s or even the 60s I could understand

[cherples]

In hindsight that is probably correct, but not everyone can see their options at the time.  Even now people can't get the help they need as they are not in the right headspace to be helped IYKWIM.

especially if they are already feeling worthless over the failed marriage and domestic violence.

beats me why the hawk even bothered to comment.

He seems so full of hatred.

I don't expect him to understand a woman escaping domestic violence. Nor did I expect him to comment at all.  Those comments clearly highlight the lack of compassion for other people.

[the_hawk*]

I bother because I can, look around any one can post on a thread if they wish 😉

[krazy.kiwi]

Hi krazy my comments may be harsh as I don't know the person. it just seems strange, If it happened in the 50s or even the 60s I could understand

I realise that unless you have been in a bad place, it is difficult to understand why people in the bad places don't do something that seems obvious to you. 

Unfortunately, I have been in a bad place and get it totally, my son is close to  the line sometimes and it is all we can do to help him see his way out.  Nothing has happened to him like it did to me, but he has an anxiety disorder.

I certainly didn't take offence, but thought you may want to know why these things still happen today. 🙂