Ten Stories Of Survivors Who Were Abused In Care

11 Monday May 2015

Posted by Natasha in child abuse inquiry

The Australian inquiry into institutional child sexual abuse is well underway and their incredibly efficient and easy to navigate website holds a great deal of information already and continues to be regularly updated (yes, that is a dig at our paltry effort here).

The Royal Commission has just released ten stories which were highlighted in a hearing in March, in which the Commission looked at preventing child sexual abuse in out-of-home care and responding to allegations of child sexual abuse occurring in out-of-home care.

The names of the individuals involved have been changed, but the stories are a must-read, both for how this kind of abuse affects children and how child protection continues to fail children.

You can read the stories here.

Question It!

11 Monday May 2015

Posted by Natasha in Question It

≈ 7 Comments

Welcome to another week.

As the Conservatives come to power this month, their plans to scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a Bill of Rights has been placed in the hands of the new Justice Secretary, Michael Gove.

Some say the Human Rights Act is responsible for judgments which don’t sit well with the collective conscience, whilst others inside the family justice system take the view that it has become increasingly important as a means to protecting our ever-eroding freedoms. Meanwhile, no one as yet knows how the transition will work from Act to Bill, nor whether the end result will indeed be an improvement on the current legislation.

Our question to you then, is this: do you think the replacement of the Human Rights Act with a Bill of Rights will bolster the child welfare system, or break it, both in the interim period, and after the Bill’s inception?