$45m fund boost to help victims of child sex abuse

Survivors of child sexual abuse taking part in the current royal commission will be given more support, following a $45 million injection into community-based service providers.

The federal government will on Sunday list 28 support services around the nation that are sharing in the grants, to be used to help people wanting to submit evidence, attend royal commission hearings or cope emotionally with the proceedings.

The money will help those who have been personally affected by child sexual abuse and the families and carers of victims.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/45m-fund-boost-to-help-victims-of-child-sex-abuse-20130713-2px20.html#ixzz2Zw1CHgd9

Good Shepherd Sisters denying history

The recent claims, by lawyer and lobbyist Bryan Keon-Cohen, that the Catholic Church is a law unto itself in its resistance of governmental responses to child abuse, could be applied to Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand.

On the 22^nd of this month, Good Shepherd, an organisation established by the Good Shepherd Sisters has scheduled a Festival at Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne in order to celebrate 150 years since the Good Shepherd Sisters arrived in Australia. The problem is that the summary, by Trish Carroll, Good Shepherd Mission Leader, of the history of the organisation, conveniently excludes the work of the Sisters in the twentieth century. So allow me to fill in the resounding gap.

Read More http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=15140

Brian back from the dead to rise and shine

After his obituary was published, Mark Twain said, 'The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.' When news of your demise hits Facebook the results are equally spectacular.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/brian-back-from-the-dead-to-rise-and-shine-20130406-2hdin.html#ixzz2TWCLhaW0

Recollections hard for victims - and professionals

The royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse commences hearings on April 3.

The commissioners and those who work with them are going to hear some extremely distressing stories of abuse. Some will be gut-wrenching. Some will produce feelings of revulsion and disgust. Some, even though true, will be hard to believe.

People who work in the area of child sex abuse know how distressing these stories can be. It is recognised that professionals who listen to and help victims of child sexual abuse are at risk of themselves suffering from compassion fatigue, a form of significant psychological distress including recurrent, intrusive recollections of what the abuse victim has related to them.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/recollections-hard-for-victims--and-professionals-20130402-2h5g4.html#ixzz2PRagZa00

All the lost children

YOU don't see it coming. That's what they say, after the abduction, the theft, the removal, the relinquishment.

Despite everything - poverty, deprivation, violence - you don't think it's possible. They wouldn't take your child. But they did, and they do. Right up to the 1980s, it didn't require much: unemployment, the death or desertion of a husband, or no husband to begin with. Aboriginal blood, or illness, mental or physical. Hunger. Sometimes it was "the welfare" in shiny black cars. Recognising them, mothers would yell to their children: Run! It might be someone in uniform - a nurse, a nun, a police officer. Or, more insidiously, someone with the familiar face of family.
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Judge Stephen McEwen terms child service officials controls freaks

THE protection of troubled children has been hijacked by obstructive control freaks who rely on psychological advice instead of obvious solutions, a judge says.

Senior Youth Court judge Stephen McEwen has levelled scathing criticism against the Department for Education and Child Development - formerly known as Families SA.

In a transcript obtained by the Sunday Mail, he said the department was paralysed by its reliance on a team of highly paid psychologists. He said dedicated, caring social workers had been handcuffed and vulnerable children left at risk of further harm.

"If this sounds a little bit like a dummy spit, that's because it is," he said. "I'm just sick and tired of that entire department being obstructive control freaks, constantly throwing up pseudo-reasons dressed up in social work speak for refusing to just have a look at the blindingly obvious.

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Royal commission will override confidentiality agreements

The head of the royal commission into child sexual abuse has vowed to use its powers to override confidentiality agreements between victims and institutions if the information is necessary to its investigation.

The six commissioners appointed by the Federal Government to investigate allegations of systemic abuse within religious and state-run institutions have held their first face-to-face meeting in Sydney today.

Read more http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-16/royal-commission-will-override-confidentiality-agreements/4467924