Shepherds Family Law | The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
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27 Jan The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

Posted at 05:26h in Mediation by

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has issued ninety-nine recommendations that are significant to survivors of abuse, responsible institutions, and lawyers advising both groups.

Click here for my article in the NSW Law Society Journal explaining the recommendations.  My article draws on my experience of working with institutional abuse as a facilitator of restorative engagement conferences for the Defence Assault Response Taskforce.

The Royal Commission’s recommendations include:

  1. Personal meetings to allow child sexual abuse survivors a direct personal response from representatives of responsible institutions. These are similar to the conferences I facilitate between senior defence personnel and members of the military who have been abused during their service.  Such meetings need to be carefully structured to avoid them perpetuating the original abuse.
  2. Counselling and psychological care.
  3. Monetary payments.
  4. The removal of limitations for civil claims and the imposition of a non-delegable duty on institutions for child abuse occurring within their care.

On 29 January 2016 the Commonwealth Government advised it was commencing “negotiations” with State and Territory governments for the development of a national approach to redress for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.