Oh Please God - Extend the Child Abuse Commission.

I have just read the interim report of the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.  This inquiry needs to be extended.  I urge the government to stump up the extra 100 mill for the necessary extension of this landmark inquiry.

The Commissioners at work.

As the name implies, this inquiry is concerned with INSTITUTIONS.  It does not examine the individual abuser as such.  It looks at why abuse has been tolerated by institutions and how those institutions could change. 

Most of these were faith-based institutions, followed by government institutions. Of the faith-based institutions, 68 per cent were Catholic and 12 per cent were Anglican.  I am not saying that faith has a monopoly on these crimes.  Far from it as Rolf Harris demonstrates.  However, the faith based institutions were clearly over represented probably because the people in a faith owe such a strong allegiance to their church or temple.

The results of abuse are truly awful.  Almost nine in 10 participants reported impacts on their health, including depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and a lack of trust in authority.  Suicide can be rife with some aggravated abusers. 

Participants also commonly reported:

•impacts on relationships, such as difficulties with trust and intimacy, and a lack of confidence with parenting;

•educational and economic impacts;

•feeling alienated from their peers and the community.

In short, abuse can destroy lives.

Most survivors had previously disclosed their abuse. On average, it took them 22 years after the onset of abuse to do so.

Most survivors reported being abused multiple times, and some spoke of multiple offenders in the same institutional setting.

Children were also sometimes moved from one place to another and abused in both places. Or they were abused at home, removed from that home and then abused elsewhere, such as in foster care.

Survivors reported that they told adults in positions of authority what was happening but those adults did nothing.

Many also reported that perpetrators were moved from one region, diocese or state to another in the wake of complaints.

Abuse happens in a variety of institutions but has occurred more frequently in some.  There is an urgent need to promote what makes an institution child safe.

The Commission received allegations of abuse in more than 1,000 institutions.  Religions top the list.

The Commission is concerned with what makes a child safe institution.  Child safe institutions begin with leadership, governance and culture. Submissions told of the importance of institutional governance for promoting child safety.

Save the Children Australia, for example, argued that:

‘... the role of governance and

management leadership in

creating a child safe organisational

culture is vital. There must be

congruence in leadership behaviour

and commitment to achieving

this. Board and Executive staff

are powerful role models and

their actions and behaviour can

send strong messages about

organisational culture, which can

motivate staff. Their advocacy

and support for child safe

organisational culture is critical.’

Some submissions argued that child safe governance involves not just leadership, but also management styles that are child friendly, open and egalitarian.

“Conversely, rigid and overly hierarchical governance disconnects those governing from regular contact with staff, parents and children. It increases the risk of child sexual abuse going undetected.  Bad institutions place more value on its own reputation than the safety of children.”  DOES THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?

Religious organisations often promote obedience and the importance of respect for the hierarchy.  Such notions call forth abuse. 

And will the Church recover?  I suspect it will.  The Church will now diminish or maybe even stop child abuse.  As the current crop of victims die out, the outrage will abate.  The Church will have learned its lesson for the next 50 to 100 years.  I am sure it will bounce back.  In the interim, this landmark study must be funded to continue until it is completed.

What is your view?

What do you think makes for a child safe institution?

Is the church contrite or is it faking contrition?

Will the church recover?

Is this a moment of grace for godlessness or do we look sleazy if we act all triumphant?

Should we continue the investigation or is enough study so far, enough?

Over to you guys….