By Emily Caulkett-
The Church of England failed to respond consistently to victims and survivors with sympathy and compassion, accompanied by practical and appropriate support. This often added to the trauma of those who had experienced child sexual abuse by individuals connected to the Church, the disturbing report into sexual abuse reveals.
Safeguarding arrangements in the Church of England were under-resourced until 2015, when resources increased considerably.
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Changes were also made which aimed to ensure that the advice of safeguarding staff should not be ignored, but there were still some occasions when the advice was disregarded.
The disturbing details of the report revealed multiple instances about the woeful shortcoming in the Church in addressing complaints about child sexual abuse.
While there have been important improvements in child protection practice, the Church of England still has more to do to rebuild the trust of victims and survivors. Some internal past case reviews were flawed and inaccurate, and there was a tendency to minimise offending. the report stated.
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In recent years, a number of clergymen in the Church in Wales have been deposed from holy orders following sexual assaults on children, or for offences concerning indecent images of children. No precise data on actual numbers are available.
A Historic Cases Review, published in 2012, concluded that there was a need to improve compliance with existing safeguarding policies and adopt additional policies to improve child protection.
Further improvements are still required, particularly in the area of record-keeping and the capacity of provincial safeguarding officers.
One of the two case studies investigated by The Anglican Church was the Diocese of Chichester, where there had been multiple allegations of sexual abuse against children. Over 50 years, 20 individuals with a connection to Chichester Diocese, including four clergymen, were convicted of sexual offending against children.
The responses of the Diocese were disgracefully marked by secrecy, prevarication, avoidance of reporting alleged crimes to the authorities and a failure to take professional advice, the report stated.
Internal reviews failed to expose the nature and scale of the problem within the Diocese. Instead, they were used by Church leaders to act out their personal conflicts and antagonisms. The reviews ultimately came to nothing until 2011, when the Archbishop of Canterbury intervened by ordering a Visitation.
The second case study concerned Peter Ball, who was a bishop in the Chichester Diocese before becoming Bishop of Gloucester. In 1993, he was cautioned for gross indecency. In 2015, Ball pleaded guilty to further offences, including misconduct in public office and indecent assault in which he admitted that he had abused his position as Bishop of Lewes and Bishop of Gloucester to offend against 17 teenagers and young men.
One victim, Neil Todd, was seriously failed by the Church and ultimately took his own life. At the time, the Church discounted Ball’s behaviour as trivial and insignificant, displaying callous indifference to Mr Todd’s complaints. The Archbishops’ Council accepted that the Church had displayed “moral cowardice” in response to the allegations.
The Inquiry also found failings in the response of Lord Carey, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, including showing Ball a degree of compassion which he did not extend to his victims and not disciplining Ball after he was cautioned. Other people of prominence also supported Ball, but without any consideration of the experiences of Ball’s victims.
It conducted a thematic investigation into Child protection in religious organisations and settings. In total, 38 religious organisations, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, new religious movements, non-conformist Christian denominations, non-trinitarian Christian denominations, Paganism and Sikhism, provided evidence to the Inquiry.
There were significant barriers to effective reporting of child sexual abuse, including victim-blaming and notions of shame and honour.
In some religious traditions and communities, children are not taught about sex or sexual relationships. The inquiry was told by representatives of some faiths that in some languages there were no words for rape, sexual abuse or genitalia.
Not all religious organisations had adequate child protection policies, despite the advice readily accessible in the public domain. In some, safe recruitment practices were not always followed and there was limited uptake of child protection training offered by local authorities. While some religious organisations had effective systems in place for responding to child sexual abuse, this was not the case across the board. Very few had arrangements in place for the provision of counselling or therapy sessions for victims and survivors.
Council Leader Lied to inquiry
The Cambridge House, Knowl View and Rochdale investigation focussed on child sexual abuse in Rochdale and institutional failures to protect vulnerable boys in care. This included Cambridge House hostel for boys and young men where the Inquiry heard about the predatory activities of Cyril Smith. Between 1962 and 1965, Smith, who was not medically qualified, conducted ‘medical examinations’ on a number of boys, including of their genitalia.
The report said Smith’s prominence and standing in Rochdale in the mid-1960s allowed him to exert pressure on others locally, in particular to keep quiet about any allegations of abuse. Years later, in 1998 and 1999, for reasons unconnected to Smith’s position, the Crown Prosecution Service wrongly advised that Smith should not be charged.
Knowl View School was basic and bleak, providing neither care nor education. Staff were at best complacent, and at worst complicit, in the abuse they knew to be taking place. Senior council officials in social services and education departments were at fault for failing to treat the problem of sexual abuse at Knowl View School with any urgency.
In evidence, the council leader lied to the Inquiry when he denied all knowledge of the issues about child sexual abuse at Knowl View.
Police investigations into other individuals involved in the sexual exploitation of boys from Knowl View School in the town centre toilets also resulted in no charges being brought, despite the police knowing their identities and having obtained disclosures from the young victims.
These failures, along with those relating to the allegations against Smith, deprived victims and complainants of the opportunity of seeing perpetrators being brought to justice.
Safeguarding arrangements in the Church of England were under-resourced until 2015, When resources increased considerably. Changes were also made which aimed to ensure that the advice of safeguarding staff should not be ignored. Nevertheless, there were still some occasions when the advice was disregarded.
Inadequate Child protection Policies
Not all religious organisations had adequate child protection policies, despite the advice readily accessible in the public domain. In some, safe recruitment practices were not always followed and there was limited uptake of child protection training offered by local authorities.
While some religious organisations had effective systems in place for responding
to child sexual abuse, this was not the case across the board. Very few had arrangements in place for the provision of counselling or therapy sessions for victims and survivors.
Some religious organisations provide education and services to children through
supplementary schooling or out-of-school provision. There are also a number of unregistered schools providing full-time education. Serious concerns were expressed by Ofsted that a minority of out-of-school settings were putting children at risk by failing to adhere to basic child protection standards.
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