Case study 24 is currently being held in Sydney to examine the prevention of child sexual abuse in out-of-home care and responding to allegations of child sexual abuse occurring in out-of-home care.
The hearing is specifically looking into the incidence of child sexual abuse in contemporary out-of-home care settings, recruitment, assessment and training of carers, monitoring and oversight of children.
It is also looking into systems and policies for reporting and responding to allegations and also supporting children who have been sexually abused in out-of-home care.
The Commission will hear evidence from a range of witnesses including the Catholic Church's Mary MacKillop family Services, Marymead Child and Family Services and CatholicCare.
The primary purpose of the hearing is to understand how providers of out of home care protect children from sexual abuse and how they respond when allegations are raised.
When children are placed in out-of-home care it is hoped a new roof over their head will also mean a better life. For many, tragically this is not the case with the Royal Commission hearing this week that 40 per cent of the 3000 survivors of child sexual abuse, who have spoken to the Commission during private hearings, were abused in out-of-home care, mostly in the 1950s and 60s.
The hearing will enable institutions and governments to outline their position on redress for survivors of child sexual abuse particularly in light of the Commission's major redress consultation paper released in January this year.
Francis Sullivan, said the hearing will be one of the significant milestones in the work of the Royal Commission.
"The issue of redress is at the very heart of the Commission's work," Mr Sullivan said.
No comments:
Post a Comment