Sexual Abuse LED to Suicide Bids

By Richard Baker
The Age
February 21, 2013

http://m.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/sexual-abuse-led-to-suicide-bids-20130220-2erq9.html

The Jewish community's emergency medical response group, Hatzolah, has revealed young children have attempted suicide as a result of being sexually abused.

The acknowledgement of child sexual abuse as an ''ongoing crisis facing our community'' in a letter written by a senior Hatzolah official on Tuesday comes amid revelations of a police investigation into alleged criminal offences at Sydney's Yeshiva Centre in the 1970s and '80s.

In a letter endorsing the establishment of Jewish sexual abuse support group Tzedek, Hatzolah's Melbourne operations manager, Danny Elbaum, wrote of his observations ''first hand of the devastating impact of child sexual abuse''.

''On many occasions our emergency responders have been called to assist Jewish patients (including young ones) who have self-harmed or attempted suicide, and upon further inquiry it has become clear the underlying cause for these desperate acts has been due to the patient's experience of child sexual abuse.''

Mr Elbaum's letter is one of the first times a Jewish community leader has linked child sexual abuse to suicide attempts.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard last year announced a royal commission to investigate child sexual abuse and how religious organisations handled such incidents.