Last girl standing survived a `true life horror story then changed the future for thousands of other children Sarah Davison is a sexual abuse and domestic violence survivor whose suffering was a catalyst for the shutdown of Queenslands Department of Families in 2004. Sarah took the witness stand in court by day and worked nights in a battered womens shelter. IF A HOLLYWOOD version of this story were even possible, it would go like this: four brave foster siblings testify about shocking sexual abuse in state-supervised care. They force a restructure of a government department, spark radical reform of the child safety system and change the future for thousands of other children. They take their fight for compensation all the way to the High Court and win. They buy houses, fall in love, raise their own happy kids and nestle into the warm glow of ordinary, content suburban lives. But this "true life horror story," as the campaigner who helped bring the case to light a decade ago calls it, has a different arc. Nonetheless there is a heroine, a flawed one though all the more heroic for it. Her name is Sarah Jane Davison, currently in hiding. She has emerged to reveal herself as the only survivor of the four foster children from "family X" whose suffering was a catalyst for the shutdown of Queensland's Department of Families in 2004. Sarah is the only one to reach 30. She has a cross tattooed on her wrist for each of her three foster siblings. One for Bobby Yarrie, who hanged himself in 1998 in a cell aged 16. He was reportedly brutalised while in juvenile prison for theft and truancy. He told Sarah on the phone three days before his death that he missed his sisters. Bobby's death sparked an inquiry by an ex-governor and led to the removal of hanging points in juvenile cells. He didn't live to give testimony in the 2003 Crime and Misconduct Commission's child protection inquiry, the court cases or the payouts. Another of Sarah's crosses is for Sharleen Ross, whose abusive partner was a violent criminal (also a foster child) who was found guilty of manslaughter after beating her to death. She was 22. Sarah took the witness stand in court by day and worked nights in a battered women's shelter. The third cross is for Natasha Yarrie, who lived to see their fight for compensation go to the highest court and force the State Government to come to the table. Only the two of them shared in the confidential settlement, which Sarah says was squandered within six months. "Our lawyer told us we could buy a house, pay for our education, our medical expenses," she says. Sarah says the government payout pales in significance beside the settlements of millions of dollars paid by the Catholic Church, which have emerged during the current Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse. Our case was the only case where members of our foster family were charged. We did get a payout (but) it was pathetic for 12 years" worth of abuse," she says. And people getting paid from their churches millions? They knew all three of us were in violent relationships, which means none of us even got to touch that money because of our partners. Now those two are dead, I'm the only one left here. Natasha died in 2009 of a brain tumour, which Sarah says was picked up during a scan after she was assaulted by her partner. Bravehearts founder Hetty Johnston says the fact Sarah is the only survivor of her foster siblings should be put on public record at the Royal Commission. Johnston, whose Bravehearts organisation was pivotal in bringing the foster abuse case to light, says it was "history making." "Her bravery in disclosing to Bravehearts saved thousands of kids all kind of misery because it was her disclosure that led to the inquiry into foster care in Queensland (which) has now been duplicated right across the nation," Johnston says. She was the tipping point, if you like, to make life better for thousands and thousands of kids. All of them were incredibly brave for speaking to us in the first place. They really worked hard to crawl out of that black hole. But they all had that resilience. They were clever young people, all of them. They were wily, they were street smart, they were hurt. They were betrayed and you could see that in their eyes. They didn't trust easily and I understand that. We did everything in our power. Bravehearts sent a counsellor out to the house the siblings shared for several years after the inquiry ended, until each disappeared off the organisation's radar. A Supreme Court judgment of 2004 describes "young adults living difficult and perhaps dysfunctional lives." Sarah, who was fostered out to the abusive Ipswich family at just 10 weeks of age, has been more functional than most. At 19 she married a software programmer she'd met in church. The couple had a son and also cared for Natasha's daughter. She has held a job as a youth worker with the new Department of Communities she helped create, worked in a shelter, studied a year of criminology at QUT and earned qualifications as a personal trainer. But her marriage ended after five-and-a-half years, as the spectre of abuse, which she was forced to relive during the inquiry and court cases, took a renewed toll on her. Sarah told psychiatrist Derek Lovell in 2007 she walked out on the marriage because she "felt uncomfortable with (her husband) knowing everything she experienced." Another psychiatrist Dr Ian Curtis found she was in fear of the traumatic flashbacks triggered by having to give repeated testimony of her abuse from the age four to 10. His report found she was unable to "enjoy intimacy at any level" or "trust her husband's care of the children." Sarah's disproportionately fearful of everyday experiences. For example she can be transfixed and immobilised with fear whenever a car pulls up or someone is walking outside their home," Curtis wrote. Sarah applied to join the police force the same year but post-traumatic stress disorder ruled her out. She found herself in an abusive relationship. She has abused alcohol on and off. She says she felt pressured to resort to working in a brothel. She does not have custody of her children. Johnston says these are common experiences for women in the aftermath of serious sexual abuse in childhood. The cruel twist of Sarah's adult life is that reunion with her natural family since her birth mother's death in 2009 has proven a savage disappointment. "I'm shattered," she says, tears welling in her eyes, her hands shaking. Sarah claims a police officer in Logan refused her frantic request to be taken to the Princess Alexandra hospital, telling her "f--- off and walk." A Queensland police spokesman said there is no record of any such incident. Sarah says she did walk - five hours through the night from Logan to the Princess Alexandra hospital at Woolloongabba. She says her relatives are linked to a dangerous criminal milieu of professional thieves who shave off all their body hair before jobs, and drug dealers who scope out visitors with CCTV and radio scanners. One figure linked to the scene did jail time for stealing half a million dollars of property over four months under police surveillance, paying a sidekick $300 a night to fill pillowcases with loot. The thief's cousin Donna McAvoy was convicted this week of a police officer's murder in a botched armed robbery of a Gold Coast pub in 2011. By then, Sarah was already in hiding. A social worker familiar with Sarah's circumstances says her best hope is a complete break from a peer group in which her beauty and intelligence count against her. I get really sad with Sarah. I think she's an amazing person, it's just her life situation is putting blockages in front of her," the social worker says. She's the most beautiful person and the dregs of this earth just seem to leech onto her. She's like the Queen - this beautiful prize that these scummy people just can't believe (their luck) that she's with them. Sarah's obvious intelligence is a handicap when presenting at hospitals and to authorities, the social worker says. "People think "she's so intelligent, she's obviously playing the system,"" she says. That really goes against her. Johnston, who has invited Sarah to speak to the Royal Commission's closed hearings in Brisbane, says she "deserves a medal." "To hear that she's still in this black hole, after everything that she has endured as a child and then sacrificed for everyone else, is really sad and not acceptable," she says. It's time the community wrapped its arms around this girl, protected her and encouraged her to continue to fight back and offer all the support to help her. Thinking beyond her personal crisis, Sarah tells The Courier-Mail she'll consider the invitation to go to the Royal Commission, to speak again of the unspeakable. I could do it. I'm happy to do it. I need to do it. I need to do it for justice, for Shar, Tasha and Bobby and for my own kids," she says. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will hold private sessions in Brisbane from September 30 to October 4, November 11-15, December 4-6.