Salvation Army boys homes findings

Daily Mail
March 17, 2015

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/aap/article-2998422/Salvation-Army-boys-homes-findings.html

ROYAL COMMISSION REPORT ON CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE AT SALVATION ARMY BOYS' HOMES.

HOMES

Indooroopilly, Queensland

Riverview, Queensland

Bexley, NSW

Gill, NSW

They were run from the 1950s until they were closed between 1977 and 1983.

WHO WAS THERE?

Boys who were wards of the state because of family abuse or neglect or who were sent by their parents who could not look after them.

Boys were also placed there by courts if they were deemed uncontrollable.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE HOMES?

Evidence to the Royal Commission in June 2014 provided "graphic and shocking accounts" of how boys were treated.

All of the homes were run in a highly regimented and authoritarian way with brutal sexual and physical abuse at the hands of Salvation Army officers, the commission said.

MAIN FINDINGS OF THE COMMISSION

The Salvation Army did not protect boys from sexual and physical abuse by officers at the homes.

Most boys who reported abuse were punished, disbelieved, accused of lying or no action was taken.

Brigadier Leslie Reddie and Colonel Gordon Peterson did not act on allegations of abuse at Indooroopilly.

Senior members of the Salvation Army wanted to reinstate a Captain X17 who was convicted of two charges of indecent assault.

Between 1965 and 1977 the Salvation Army did not have clear policies for reporting allegations of criminal offences to police.

Between 1965 and 1977, officers who were alleged or found to have engaged in child sexual abuse were transferred between the four boys homes.