Abuse commissioner: 'Institutions must never again be allowed to silence a child'

By Melissa Davey
Guardian
July 15, 2015

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jul/15/abuse-commissioner-institutions-must-never-again-be-allowed-to-silence-a-child

Justice McClellan will tell the meeting since the commission was established in 2013, 13,256 allegations of abuse and/or failure to report abuse or help those being abused had been received. Photo by Jeremy Piper

Institutions including religious organisations, schools and sporting groups must never again be allowed to silence children or fail to protect them, according to the chair of the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

“A picture is emerging for us that although sexual abuse of children is not confined in time – it is happening today – there has been a time in Australian history when the conjunction of prevailing social attitudes to children and an unquestioning respect for authority of institutions by adults coalesced to create the high-risk environment in which thousands of children were abused,” justice Peter McClellan will say when he addresses the annual meeting of the Uniting church in Perth on Wednesday.

“The societal norm that ‘children should be seen but not heard’, which prevailed for unknown decades, provided the opportunity for some adults to abuse the power which their relationship with the child gave them,” he will say.

“The power of the institution must never again be allowed to silence a child.”

Since the commission was established in 2013 to investigate child sexual abuse within Australian institutions and responses to it, 13,256 allegations of abuse and/or failure to report abuse or help those being abused had been received, McClellan will say.

Approximately half of those allegations related to faith-based institutions. According to McClellan, the Uniting church institution with the highest number of allegations is Knox Grammar school, with 137 allegations.

The commission was expected to conclude its work by 2017.

McClellan will speak of the commissioners’ experiences in the almost 4,000 private sessions held with abuse victims so far.

“The label [of] post-traumatic stress disorder does not convey the full extent of the suffering of these people,” he will say.

“We have witnessed humour and ingenuity among survivors. But we have also seen profound sorrow, grief and pain that for many may never go away.”

It is this suffering that makes a redress scheme for abuse survivors so critical, McClellan will say. Abuse affected their personal development, their education and employment prospects and their personal relationships.

“A monetary payment by the institution can serve the dual purpose of both recognising the harm suffered by the survivor, as well as providing financial assistance to the many people who, as a result of their abuse, are struggling to secure the basics of life,” he will say.

“Both Australian and international studies have found that, amongst other debilitating effects, childhood sexual abuse results in higher rates of depression, eating disorders and social anxiety.”

McClellan believes that despite the complexities around introducing such a scheme, it was vital the federal government and institutions where abuse occurred worked out how to implement it.

“There can be no doubt that for many people their only opportunity for justice will be through an effective redress scheme,” he will say.

Leonie Sheedy is the executive officer of the Care Leavers Australia Network, which represents more than 1,000 people who were abused in foster care, orphanages, and other out-of-home care institutions.

She praised McClellan and the work of the commission, and called on the federal government to implement a redress scheme urgently.

“It needs to happen now,” Sheedy said.

“One woman I spoke to last night, who was in an orphanage with me when we were children, and heinously abused, has cancer and six months to live. She will die without compensation, and without money even for a funeral.

“People are dying waiting for redress. How many more stories do we have to wait to hear of children being brutalised and made victims of heinous crimes before something is done?”