WELSH ASSEMBLY - RETROSPECTIVE CHILD CARE AUDIT SUGGESTED

The failure of Social Services in the Celtic countries to protect children is once again in focus. The Celtic League General Secretary has written to the Minister for Health and Social services in Wales suggesting that the Welsh assembly consider a retrospective child care audit. A similar request made last year to the Manx government was rejected (see links at foot of this article):

«Edwina Hart Minister for Health and Social Services Wales 13/01/09

Dear Minister Edwina Hart

Retrospective child care audit

The Celtic League has campaigned for increased rights for children, in several of areas, over a large number of years. We have also actively publicised cases where children have been failed by the social services throughout the Celtic countries, because they have not received adequate protection by those bodies that have had a responsibility to look after their welfare. Including in our campaign work specifically are those children that have been abused in one form of another while resident in a child care home facility.

In some of these cases, as showed up in the Waterhouse Report released in Wales in February 2000 for example, children were shown to have been systematically abused over a long period of time. The Celtic League is concerned that some adults, who were victims of abuse as a child while in care home facilities I Wales, have not received compensation or appropriate redress for their suffering. We are also aware that, according to the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, there are still police investigations into institutional abuse in Wales. We appreciate that Wales now has its own Children's Commissioner and hope that this has been a positive development in helping to reduce institutionalised child abuse. We nevertheless still feel that more could be done.

For this reason the Celtic League would like to request that the National Assembly of Wales commissions a retrospective child care audit to ensure that those people whose lives were damaged as a result of abuse in child care institutions as a child, achieve redress. At our 2008 AGM in Dublin the Celtic League unanimously passed the following resolution:

»This AGM:

Mindful that in the past two decades a significant number of child care scandals have occurred in various Celtic countries calls upon the National governments within the Celtic countries to carry out a retrospective child care audit to ensure that those whose lives were damaged in state institutions achieve redress.«

We would also like to know how referrals of adults who may have been abused in the past when children, are currently dealt with in Wales. We would also like to know if there is any sort of mentoring service available for adults who have been the victim of institutionalised abuse as a child and how adults can report or talk about their abuse as children in a confidential way

The Celtic League, as you can see from our resolution above, are in the process of writing to all the National Governments in the Celtic countries, calling on them to undertake similar child care audits. To date we have written to the Isle of Man Government, who has requested a meeting with a representative from the League to discuss these matters further.

We look forward to your response regarding the issues raised above.

Yours sincerely

Rhisiart Tal-e-bot General Secretary»

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J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League 15/01/09