Girl fostered by abuser, inquiry told

A woman abused by her foster father when she was seven discovered only three years ago he had already been charged with child abuse when she was handed over to him.

A royal commission hearing in Sydney heard evidence on Tuesday the woman, given the pseudonym Madison, was taken from her parents when she was about three because her father had a drinking problem.

She was placed with a couple who had three children of their own and were fostering five others.

When Madison was about seven years old, her foster father asked her to come into his bedroom and lie down next to him on the bed. He put his hands down her pants.

He also masturbated while looking at her in the bath.

Madison stayed with the family for five years and remembers being visited only once by a caseworker, counsel advising the commission Gail Furness SC said.

She was taken out of care and returned to her father several times when he was still drinking.

Madison first spoke of her abuse in 2011.

"As she became more confident, she made a claim under freedom of information legislation and found that her foster dad had previously been charged with offences relating to child abuse," Ms Furness said.

Despite the large number of children in out-of-home care, only a small number of survivors had shared their experiences with the royal commission, Ms Furness said.

This was not surprising because, on average, it took victims 22 years to disclose abuse.

The commission has heard from 3000 victims in private sessions, but the majority relate to abuse that happened 30 to 40 years ago.