Bexley Boys Home child abuse victim urges people not to donate to Salvation Army

By Antonette Collins
7 News
April 1, 2014

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/22304728/bexley-boys-home-child-abuse-victim-urges-people-not-to-donate-to-salvation-army/

A former resident of the Bexley Boys' Home in Sydney has urged the public not to give money to the Salvation Army because children have been damaged by child abuse under its care.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse has been examining the response of the Salvation Army to claims by abuse victims.

Allan Anderson and his brother, who resided at the Bexley Boys' Home from 1966 to 1971, were physically and emotionally abused during this time.

Mr Anderson was recently offered a $70,000 ex-gratia payment by the Salvation Army but rejected it because he did not believe there was a proper process in deciding on that figure.

Mr Anderson told the commission on Tuesday he was unhappy with how his claim was processed and urged the public not to give money to the organisation.

"Boys' and girls' lives have been damaged and any compensation should come from the organisation's pockets, not the public's," he said.

Mr Anderson said questions about his time at Bexley were not answered.

"I am confused by the process the organisation puts you through," he said.

"Why is it you cannot sit down and give us what we require? Why [do] you say you don't have the information when you get us to painstakingly take days, months, weeks and years to continually write an impact statement for you?"

An advocate for Salvation Army abuse victims, John Lucas, told the hearing the claims process should be more transparent and specific to individual victims.

Mr Lucas represented around 40 claimants in Queensland through a not-for-profit organisation Micah Projects.

He told the commission that ex-gratia payments would be offered out of the blue without explanation as to how the amount was determined.

"Sometimes people would say that they felt very hurt by the process," he said.

He told the commission that some victims felt resigned to accepting offers made to them, while others who rejected the amount were offered more money with no reason given.

Mr Lucas told Counsel Assisting the Commission Simeon Beckett that it appeared the Salvation Army was more interested in fixing issues rather than properly investigating the claim.

John Lucas: "Each time there was a kind of question raised, the offer went up." Simeon Beckett: "Is that because you were not told of the basis upon which the amount had been increased?" John Lucas: "Yes."