Archive for carers
Our attention has been drawn to a detailed review of Historical Abuse Systemic Review: Residential Schools and Children’s Homes in Scotland 1950 to 1995. Although written in the Scottish context much of it relates to residential care generally and through out the UK.
The research includes an excellent literature review
The authors are: Robin Sen, Andrew Kendrick, Ian Milligan and Moyra Hawthorn: Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care, University of Strathclyde
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Our attention has been drawn to an excellent article by Mark Smith, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, University of Edinburgh, concerning Victim Narratives in Residential Child Care. You can download an on-line copy of this article here
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In the interests of fairness and openess we draw your attention to a web site which set up to support victims of child abuse in care homes, and represents the other sde of the argument.
The website is called poundpuplegacy
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An alternative view of historic child abuse by Iris Jensen
In this article Iris Jensen given an alternative view of historic child abuse in which she suggests there are four categories of complainants each having a distinctive lifestyle which impacts on their reasons for making allegations.The categories are those residents:-
who suffered abuse in children’s home
who suffered abuse in children’s home but not at the children’s home or by staff
who had not suffered abuse but had been peripherally involved in some way
who had neither suffered abuse nor been peripherally involved in some way – but were ‘hired’ by the perceived opportunities to make false ...
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Making the most of European Convention of Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998 by Ingrid Kamark
I welcome the efforts of individuals in the UK who are trying to persuade the British Government to reconsider and accept the recommendations as set out in the Home Affairs Select Committee Report: ‘The Conduct of Investigations into Past Cases of Abuse in Children’s Homes’ 2001-02. The Report was at that time a ray of hope to all who suffered injustice, firstly by those who have made false allegations, and secondly, injustice caused by the State itself which assumes that the accuser(s) are always ...
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When a deputy police chief announced that children had been killed and buried at a Jersey home, the media were satisfied. But was it true?
Throwing a miniature rugby ball around his cramped office in Broadcasting House, the run-down former BBC centre that now serves as a police HQ in Jersey’s capital, St Helier, Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell is one policeman whose lot is not a happy one. A self-styled “Lancashire Bobby” with a track record of dealing with multiple deaths such as those of the Chinese cocklers who drowned in Morecambe Bay four years ago, the DSI was appointed to ...
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advice and support ¦ raise awareness ¦ campaigning ¦ lobbying
F.A.C.T. has three main objectives.
to provide advice and support to those who have been falsely accused or wrongly convicted of allegations of abuse or misconduct in a work setting, and to their families.
to raise awareness of issues concerning false allegations and investigative malpractice.
to campaign and lobby on their behalf.
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ABUSE IN NORTH WALES CHILDREN’S HOME – THE UNTOLD STORY
Ad hoc presentation to members of the Welsh Assembly
4th November 2003
Context:
This presentation was made made by three F.A.C.T. members to a group of Assembly Members representing all the main parties in Wales on the 4th November 2003. The presentation which was not however formally part of the Assembly’s business was largely in response to the received view that inquiries into alleged child abuse such as the Lost in Care Report (Feb 2000) could be trusted to give a balanced view. F.A.C.T. are grateful to Richard Webster author of the Secret of ...
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F.A.C.T. (Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers) is a UK wide voluntary organisation. It exists partly to support carers, teachers and other professionals falsely accused or wrongly convicted of abuse, and partly to lobby for change in investigative practice and in the criminal justice system. F.A.C.T. gains its support from academics, criminal defence lawyers, justice groups, and from an increasing numbers of the press, politicians, professionals and the general public.
If you have been falsely accused of abusing others, or know someone who has, this site provides useful information on what we do, who we are, as well as useful advice and access to information and resources.
Although this site contains ...
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F.A.C.T. (Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers) is a UK wide, membership based, voluntary organisation run by a national committee consisting of a Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, three other committee members, regional representatives and co-opted members. It is responsible for its own fund-raising and receives no financial or other help from Government or local authorities.
F.A.C.T. has its roots in the decisions of various police forces in the UK to undertake historical investigations into alleged abuse in former children’s homes and residential schools.
The first to do this was the North Wales Police Force who began their inquires in 1991. They were followed by Merseyside and Cheshire ...
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Jack Straw faced pressure yesterday to appoint an independent judge to oversee the child abuse investigation in Jersey, after police were prevented from charging two suspects.Detectives said that there was sufficient evidence to charge the couple with serious sexual and physical assaults within the childcare system during the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the island’s volunteer police force refused to do so after seeking legal advice from the office of Jersey’s Attorney-General.Politicians said that the Justice Secretary ought to use his powers to appoint an outside judge to Jersey because of the risk to the rule of law.Jersey Police ...
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Impact of false accusations on care workers is great
Being caught in the tangled web of false allegations is a nightmare that many struggle to recover from.
Of all the bogey men that haunt teachers’ nightmares, none is more dreadful than that of the false, malicious allegation.
F.A.C.T. (Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers) was initially formed to support staff who had been falsely accused or wrongly convicted of child abuse. It campaigns for reform in the criminal justice system to prevent miscarriages of justice, and for improvements in investigative practices to remove the presumption of guilt.
Those who abuse children should face the severest punishment. ...
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There is an excellent article in the Times (29th Jan 2008) concerning the decision of two jurors to speak out against the conviction of child minder Keran Henderson for killing a baby in her care.
In an unprecedented move, two jurors recently spoke out to condemn the conviction of Keran Henderson, a childminder, for the murder of 11-month-old Maeve Sheppard while in her care. Their comments, revealed by The Times, were made anonymously. Now, in an exclusive article, the foreman, a lecturer living in Berkshire, questions the practical workings of the jury system …… (more)
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We understand that the BBC are planning to do an expose on alleged historical abuse in children’s homes in the Portsmouth area in in the late 1970s and 1980′s. The programme is due for screening in March or April.If you have been interviewed by the poloice or by the Press, or visited by any complantants in respect of this investigation we would like to hear from you.
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A centre should be established to help former victims of abuse in children’s homes, a report has suggested. It also recommended a “national task group” to oversee services for children in care and residential homes. The recommendations came in an report commissioned by the previous Scottish Executive, into abuse in Scottish children’s homes between 1950 and 1995. Children’s Minister Adam Ingram said he would consider how lessons could be learned from the past. The report by Tom Shaw, former chief inspector of education in Northern Ireland, focused on child welfare regulations over a 45-year period, and how these were enforced. ...
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Could have been a lot worse … Guardian, David Conn, Wednesday March 7, 2007The harshness of life in care homes is chronicled in Phil Frampton’s moving memoir. So why does he believe it is better than being fostered?Phil Frampton stands outside the mock Tudor pile in Southport where, as a Barnardo’s boy in the 1950s and 1960s, he endured a childhood of loneliness, corporal punishment and awful food. Then he makes a startling claim: compared to children in care today, he was lucky. Frampton chronicled a life of neglect and desolation in that home – along with the best efforts ...
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A group of victims of sexual and physical abuse at children’s homes in Manchester have been awarded more than £2m in compensation. The group of 168 individuals was formed in March 2000 in response to a Greater Manchester Police investigation. Some 66 children’s homes in Greater Manchester were investigated. The compensation, totalling £2.26m, was given for the abuse itself, the lifelong effects and for expenses such as therapy, the group’s lawyers said. ‘Not enough’ …..Acknowledgement BBC
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The following article by Linda MacDonald appeared in the Guardian on 29th November Linda MacDonald reviews some controversial csare home cases1989Child abuse investigations in Staffordshire, in north Wales, and in Leicestershire were marked by a new form of police inquiry: the trawling operation. Used by as many as two-thirds of the country’s police forces to convict dozens of alleged abusers, instead of starting from a crime and setting out to find the criminal, the procedure starts with the suspect – or an allegation – and then attempts to find the crime. Police forces collected allegations against 5,000 former care workers and teachers, ...
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The following article by Fay Wertheimer appeared in the Guardian on the 29th November 2006How reliable are allegations of child abuse 30 years ago? Fay Wertheimer on why her years working in care homes make her question today’s name-shame-blame culture. Earlier this month, Anver Sheikh, a residential children’s home carer in the 1980s, was for the second time acquitted of abuse crimes he never committed but for which he was jailed for eight years in 2002. Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers (Fact), set up in 1999 to clear the names of two convicted care workers, is still working on behalf ...
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Six victims of sex abuse at the Bryn Alyn children’s homes in north Wales have been told they will receive little of the compensation awarded to them.
The victims were awarded £200,000 damages between them in 2001, but did not receive the money because the company that owned the homes went bust.
The Appeal Court has ruled that Bryn Alyn’s insurance firm is not liable to meet the compensation ...
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More than 160 adults who claim they were abused in a sex scandal that rocked children’s homes in South Wales have been paid a total of £3m in compensation.
Around £1m of this has been paid to former residents of homes or approved schools in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, an Echo investigation has revealed.
The compensation was paid out following Operation Goldfinch, a police inquiry into claims of abuse of children in care including approved schools and residential homes 20 and 30 years ago.
Many of the claims were made by solicitors as part of a group litigation.
The figures have not ...
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BBC Scotland have published a news item indicating that victims of abuse at Nazareth House children’s homes have been paid official compensation and more could follow. Eighteen residents of the former homes in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Kilmarnock have received awards of up to £7,500. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) compensated the former residents after a hearing last month. They alleged they were abused, beaten or humiliated as children by some of the nuns who ran the homes. Glasgow lawyer Cameron Fyfe hopes that compensation will eventually be paid to about 100 of his clients, who are now mostly in their ...
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We are delighted to announce that John Siddal and Ian Brooke have been acquitted by the Court of Appeal of allegations that they sexually abused children in their care. The case was referred back to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. A full report appears in the Yorkshire Post (here)The following press announcement has been released by F.A.C.T. Press ReleaseF.A.C.T. (Falsey Accused Carers and Teachers) welcomes the news that John Siddall and Ian Brooke have both been cleared in the Court of Appeal of allegations of sexual abuse which were said to have been committed when they ...
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Thousands of Swedes who say they were subjected to physical abuse and cruel treatment in state children’s homes and foster care for decades from the 1950s have won the promise of an official inquiry. A cabinet minister said the probe would investigate the cases, which peaked in the 1940s and ’50s when Sweden’s zeal for social engineering included making children of single women or poor people wards of the state.It could result in an apology and compensation similar to that given in the 1990s to around 60,000 women who were forcibly sterilised between 1936-76 after being deemed unfit for motherhood ...
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Give us a Royal Commission by Charles Pragnell
Despite parliamentary debates, select committees, adverse media reports, disastrous events in Courts, public inquiries after the deaths of children under the care or supervision of child protection agencies(e.g. Victoria Climbie’) etc, the present government is in complete denial or oblivious to the fact that the child protection system is deeply-flawed, erratic, and dysfunctional.
Many thousands of children, their parents, and adults have all suffered serious injustices and continue to suffer because the child protection system is incapable of learning from its mistakes and is incapable of carrying out the necessary reforms. Each crisis has simply resulted in ...
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