00:02People are just so busy, you know, living in their world. I guess our world's kind of hidden.
00:08We can't show you her face or use her real name, but this teenager, who we'll call Zoe,
00:14knows Queensland's child protection system all too well. She's spent almost all of her life in it.
00:21You rarely ever get to walk out of the system in one piece as the system shatters you completely.
00:28Zoe was just a toddler when authorities removed her from her parents after drug utensils were found in a nappy
00:35bag.
00:36She was sent to live in foster homes, including one where a woman allegedly physically disciplined her
00:42and her partner sexually abused her.
00:45I had 26 placements, foster and resi care.
00:50Zoe says she felt so unsafe she'd prefer to sleep rough in car parks, at bus stops and in train
00:56stations.
00:58Sometimes she'd end up in trap houses, places run by adults where at risk kids are given a place to
01:04stay.
01:04She says here kids are fed drugs, sexually exploited and pressured to engage in criminal activity.
01:11There are trap houses scattered everywhere. It doesn't matter if the area is wealthy or not wealthy.
01:19The ABC has seen text messages from men Zoe claims had links to trap houses.
01:25In one, a man who Zoe alleges had sexually abused her offers her a place to stay, promising not to
01:31touch her.
01:32In another text, a different man makes a sexual advance towards her.
01:37She says she reported one trap house to police.
01:39The police said to me that they needed more children to build a case.
01:45I am aware of several cases where children in state care are being moved from placement to placement
01:52or across hotel rooms in order to be sexually exploited.
01:57The Child Safety Department says it can't legally comment on individual cases,
02:01but the safety and wellbeing of children and young people remains our highest priority.
02:06Queensland has more children in resi care than any other state.
02:10The state government has vowed to take children under five out of these homes
02:13and will soon respond to recommendations from the Child Safety Commission of Inquiry.
02:18We're not doing okay by these children. We need to do far more.
02:22The state was my parent but they didn't act like one.
02:31It's very cute.
02:31I'm ready to go.
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