Researching Reform: Child Abuse Inquiry – Tools for Building Trust and Revealing the Truth

By Natasha Phillips
Family Law
March 6, 2015

http://www.familylaw.co.uk/news_and_comment/researching-reform-child-abuse-inquiry-tools-for-building-trust-and-revealing-the-truth#.VPsY3vl_uSp

The nation’s Independent Panel Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse is undergoing a radical transformation

The nation’s Independent Panel Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse is undergoing a radical transformation, but will it be enough to gain trust it so desperately needs amongst the public and survivors? It could be, but the new Inquiry must heed the lessons of current investigations around the world.

The Statutory Inquiry Into Child Abuse, as it is now known, has been given a powerful makeover. Its Head, New Zealand judge Justice Lowell Goddard looks to be savvy and meticulous, and its newly bestowed statutory status will give this body a brand new set of teeth, which one hopes will bite when necessary, through the compelling of witnesses to give evidence and the production of documents to help move the inquiry along.

A new panel though, has yet to be announced. Section 4 of the Inquiries Act 2005 tells us that each member has to be appointed by a Minister, in this case Home Secretary Theresa May, and that each prospective panel member must be consulted before an appointment can be made. Section 8 of the Act also tells us that whoever is appointed must have the necessary level of expertise, but is this criterion sufficiently robust?

A statement, published on the old Inquiry website by the Inquiry’s lead counsel, Ben Emmerson QC, tells us that the search for the yet to be revealed panel embraces, “an objective appointment process conducted in accordance with transparent criteria”. This strategy alone is not enough. If the old inquiry has learned anything, surely, it is that the panel must not only be highly professional, and well received by the public, but it must also be able to work as a group and with survivors. It must also help to mobilise the inquiry, rather than stall it and let it stagnate, as it has done in the past through internal gripes and poor communication with victims of abuse. Much of this is down to good chemistry. Whoever is tasked with putting the panel together will have to implement a trilateral approach – good working chemistry between the panel, the Chair and, most importantly, our survivors. There will always be disagreements within a group; the key will be to find a panel that can work through those conflicts with dignity and a strong sense of resolution.