COMMISSION INTO ABUSE
Just as most of us who were not working over Christmas were winding down and looking forward to the end of 2020, the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions in New Zealand published its interim report. Announced in early 2018 by the prime minister Jacinda Ardern, the Royal Commission was tasked with investigating historic abuse of children, young adults and vulnerable adults by state-run child welfare, education and health establishments and foster care between 1950 and 1999, as well as in affiliated religious institutions, such as church-run orphanages. Abuse, as defined by the terms of reference, includes physical, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse, medical, educational, spiritual and cultural neglect, and any inadequate or improper treatment or care that results in serious harm, whether mental or physical. As the interim report states, the terms of reference encompass a broader range of care settings and types of abuse and neglect than any other similar inquiry in the world.
The Royal Commission is essentially addressing four key questions:
How and why have people ended up in care?
What abuse has taken place, why, and with what effects?
What changes have already been, and can be made to prevent and respond to abuse?
How should State and faith- based institutions provide redress and rehabilitation to survivors?
This interim report indicated that 1,900 survivors of abuse have contacted them with 550 so far being privately interviewed by one of the Commissioners in-person or by video (some people are also providing their accounts in writing or in groups). They state that they expect thousands more to contact them, describing the extent of abuse in state care as “significant”, and more than originally thought. They have also amassed 270,000 documents with more to come, and have so far held two public hearings with another planned. They also commissioned a consultancy firm to estimate the extent of abuse who, mainly on the basis of overseas studies, determined that a likely overall figure was 250,000 people or 40% (it is worth noting that in part due to the inherent methodological challenges the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia did not attempt to estimate the number of survivors of abuse). However, while the focus is historical abuse (1950 to 1999) this interim report clearly states that abuse in care continues to this day.
The final report is due in January 2023. That is a long way off. In the meantime, whether you are in New Zealand, Australia or elsewhere:
Does your organisation (or a setting that you are familiar with), accept that they, or any of their staff, have ever operated in ways that are abusive? Are children and young people still being, however framed, abused? What are the risks of abuse that children and young people in care still face and how are these being eliminated?
Is care in your organisation and it’s interface with the wider system, of a high quality, well and sustainably supported and resourced, and significantly improving outcomes for all? Are you services led operationally and strategically in ways that clearly reflect and model stated organisational values including the explicit valuing of children in care?
Are you familiar with the 2009 UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children and do you have a detailed understanding of both the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and your own domestic legislative framework? If not, why not?
What will you do to ensure that 2021 is better for children in care?
I’d love to hear your thoughts! You can email me at: iain@betteroutcomes.co.nz
Kia kaha (Stay Strong).
Iain