A REPORT released by the Royal Commission has found the Salvation Army were aware of child sexual abuse at four of its boys homes, including Goulburn’s Gil Memorial Home, yet failed to protect the victims.
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Instead, in most cases, they punished them.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse published the ‘Report of Case Study No. 5: The response of The Salvation Army to child sexual abuse at its boys homes in New South Wales and Queensland’ on Tuesday.
The four boys’ homes in the case study, including Gill Memorial Home, were run by the ‘Eastern Territory’ of The Salvation Army and provided homes for boys who were wards of the State.
The Royal Commission heard evidence from 14 men who as boys were residents at one of the four boys’ homes operated by The Salvation Army.
The Commissioners found that The Salvation Army did not protect the boys from sexual abuse in each of the four homes by officers or employees of The Salvation Army.
The Commissioners also found that The Salvation Army received more than 100 claims of child sexual abuse concerning boys’ homes and in most cases, the boys who reported the abuse were punished, disbelieved, accused of lying or no action was taken.
Conclusions drawn by the commissioners included the following:
• In NSW, staff from the Department of Child Welfare regularly reported on the homes but rarely recorded allegations of child sexual abuse.
• That abuse went unreported for several reasons, including limited interaction between visiting staff and boys, and that issues were not generally referred to the police.
• Between 1965 and 1977, The Salvation Army’s policies and procedures did not enable the prevention or detection of child sexual abuse
• The Salvation Army failed to provide appropriately trained staff to ensure an environment suitable for the care and safety of children.
• Senior officers responsible for transfer decisions were often, but not always, unaware of allegations rather than deliberately trying to protect offenders.
The case study highlighted various systemic issuesincluding the training and supervision of staff, mechanisms for handling complaints of child sexual abuse, reporting of child sexual abuse to authorities and record keeping in non-government institutions.
A copy of the full report can be found at www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au
