Bravehearts and the National Child Protection Alliance
are seeking a Royal Commission into the handling of child sexual abuse cases by the different systems that are responsible for the
care and protection of children. In the last two weeks we learned that a South
Australian Education Department administrator banned a school council from
informing parents that their children had been cared for by a (now convicted)
paedophile who had raped a young child. The parents were informed by letter two
years later and, of course, some parents are now finding that their children
were also abused. Seemingly, no counselling was offered for children, parents
or staff. The issue has become political because the Premier was then Education
Minister and his assistant failed to tell him that the man had been arrested.
Worse, school council members were threatened that if they disclosed what had
happened they could be taken to court.
This was not the first time that parents were kept in the
dark. A few weeks earlier, police banned child care centre management from
informing parents that another sex offender had been arrested.
Now we have senior police in Victoria and New South Wales
having the courage to expose the fact that the Catholic Church not only impeded
inquiries into child sex offences but competent police officers were removed
from the investigations. Sadly, international research shows that abuse by
clergy is even more damaging than incest because it involves God and spiritual
abuse. Victims are often told that they were chosen by God to suffer the pain
of abuse and, at the same time, they were made to take the blame by being
required to confess the sin to the very priest who had committed it.
In addition, the Family Court continues to punish
children who disclose sexual abuse by a parent or parent figure. Mothers (and
occasionally fathers) have been (and are still being) accused of training the
children to make these disclosures and they, not the accused, are required to
undergo psychiatric assessment. The accused are given responsibility for the
residence and care of the children and the protective parents may be banned
from contact or ordered to have occasional supervised contact and the supervisors
write reports on their parenting skills.. but no-one observes and reports on
the accused person's parenting skills when children are in their care.
Furthermore after ordering children to live with the parents accused of abusing
them, there is no follow-up relating to their well-being. The current Chief
Justice and her predecessor confirm that the Family Court lacks the facility to
investigate child sex abuse cases and state child protection services are often
under the impression that they cannot intervene if a federal court order is in
place or a case is in the Family Court.
The reality is that no organisation is protecting young
and disabled children from sexual abuse if they lack the sophisticated
communication skills needed to withstand rigorous cross examination by
barristers in a criminal court.
Would readers who support a Royal Commission please email
Hetty Johnson - admin@bravehearts.org.au
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