Boys Fled Salvos Home As Pedophile Fears Grew, The Australian, February 7, 2014

Boys Fled Salvo's Home As Pedophile Fears Grew

The Australian
February 7, 2014

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/boys-fled-salvos-home-as-pedophile-fears-grew/story-fngburq5-1226819995488

THE number of children absconding from a Salvation Army home in Queensland reached unprecedented levels at a time a child prostitution ring was believed to be operating in the area.

In 1973, 12 boys ran away 30 or 40 times from Alkira, a home for boys at Indooroopilly, run by the Salvation Army - and in 1975, in particular, a boy would run away for a few days and then return, an inquiry into child sexual abuse has been told. In 1975 government authorities were made aware police were investigating allegations four pedophiles were operating in the northern Brisbane suburbs and the Gold Coast.

Jan Doyle, a senior social worker for the Queensland Department of Children's Services in the 70s, told the royal commission into child sexual abuse the number of runaways was exceptional in 1973. She also said that in 1975 she was deeply concerned about the whereabouts of one boy, HT, who frequently ran away from Alkira, so she spoke to the police Juvenile Aid Bureau.

Ms Doyle said she sought permission to run an advertisement with a photograph of HT requesting information about his whereabouts and that she remembered talking to welfare departments in NSW and Victoria about him.

Simeon Beckett, counsel advising the commission, asked her if any additional resources were allocated by the department to the Salvation Army home to ensure boys were protected from the prostitution racket.

"Not that I am aware of," Ms Doyle said. But in 1973 the number of times children absconded was unusually high, she told a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hearing in Sydney.

Her evidence follows that of a Salvation Army whistleblower, retired major Clifford Randall, who told the hearing on Tuesday that in 1975 particularly the home was in a situation where boys were disappearing for more than a few days.