NEW SOUTH WALES (AUSTRALIA)
The Australian
January 10, 2019
By Rachel Baxendale
It was in 1995 that Chrissie Foster first learnt that two of her three daughters had been abused by a priest at their Catholic primary school in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs.
Twenty-three years and three family tragedies later, Ms Foster’s story moved Scott Morrison to tears as he gave a national apology to child-sex abuse victims.
Side by side with her late husband Anthony, the 63-year-old has been a fierce advocate for child-sex abuse victims, playing an instrumental role in the establishment of the Victorian parliamentary inquiry and national royal commission into the issue.
It is for this tireless work in the face of unfathomable adversity that Ms Foster has been nominated for The Australian’s Australian of the Year award.
In 1999, the Fosters’ daughter, Emma, was hit by a drunk driver, leaving her physically and mentally disabled and requiring constant care.
Struggling to deal with the abuse she and her sister Katie had suffered at the hands of pedophile priest Kevin O’Donnell as children, Emma had become a binge drinker.
Less than a decade later, in 2008, Katie took her own life.
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