State 'Must Do More' for Abused Children

By Caroline Zielinski
The Age
September 9, 2013

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/state-must-do-more-for-abused-children-20130908-2te25.html

The royal commission on child sex abuse is ''not enough'' to compensate abused children, according to a group representing former victims.

Care Leavers Australia Network is demanding the Victorian government, churches and charities acknowledge the full extent of abuse, neglect and slave labour forced on thousands of orphaned children.

The group staged a protest outside St Paul's Cathedral in the city on Sunday to let people know about the ''abuse the orphans copped, and the abuse children suffer in general''.

The group's chief executive, Leonie Sheedy, said the government, churches and charities in Victoria should contribute to a redress scheme for people who were abused as children under their care. She said many former victims lived in poverty and on disability pensions and were finding it difficult to move on.

Ms Sheedy said the government's failure to examine state-run institutions showed it did not want to be held accountable for the damage it had caused.

The compensation should match the level of abuse suffered as well as take child labour into consideration, which had physically damaged victims, she said.

Keith Broadbent, a CLAN member who was raised in two Salvation Army homes during the 1960s, said he wanted redress for the mental, physical and sexual abuse he suffered as a child.

He said the majority of his mistreatment occurred in the Salvation Army's Bayswater home.

A state government spokesman said the government had apologised to those who were abused while in state care. ''In addition, the government provides $2 million each year to enable Open Place to help deal with the legacy of these childhood experiences.''