For the third time, Royal Commission into Abuse in Care survivors have been told those writing the Commission’s report won’t meet the set deadline. The high-level inquiry covering children abused while in state and faith-based care was due to present its report on 28 March. Why the delay The Department of Internal Affairs which is Read more
Against a background of ongoing legal matters, Bishop Steve Lowe, the apostolic administrator of the Hamilton Diocese, is accused of not being pastoral enough in his response to a victim of clergy abuse. The Waikato Times reports a woman from within the Hamilton Catholic diocese saying that in a meeting with Lowe, she told him Read more
The Catholic Church’s group dealing with the Royal Commission into State and Faith-Based Care say it is studying a Cabinet paper released by Public Services Minister Chris Hipkins. Hipkins has plans to cut a 3000-strong waiting list of claimants of abuse in state care – such as children’s homes – by making “rapid payments”. Survivors Read more
A group monitoring the work of the Abuse in Care inquiry is calling on the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) to apologise to survivors of abuse at Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit in the 1970s. The Royal Commission Forum says the College colluded and was complicit in the abuse of Read more
The dates for hearing evidence about abuse at Christchurch’s Marylands School, co-located St Joseph’s Orphanage and the Hebron Trust have been announced by the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care. The Commission is encouraging survivors to come forward, as is St John of God survivor, Darryl Smith. Smith says his traumatic story with St John Read more
Not holding a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care hearing in Dunedin is a “repulsive slap in the face” for Southern survivors, says the Network of Survivors in Faith-Based Institutions. According to the ODT, the South and Dunedin in particular are considered one of the country’s epicentres for child sexual abuse in the Read more
Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft says the government should widen its abuse inquiry to include abuse since 2000. Ministers removed the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care’s ability to investigate more recent cases in April to save cash and time. These money-saving measures will result in the government being handed an incomplete report that overlooks more Read more
Abuse survivors are asking for an independent redress agency for both state and faith-based abuse to be set up immediately. The Royal Commission into Abuse in Care should recommend the government establish such an agency they say. While the Anglican Church told the Royal Commission it is open to the idea, its bishop of Christchurch Read more
The Catholic Church is determined to listen, learn, and reflect on abuse survivors ‘ evidence at the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care. The comment came in a statement from Catholic Bishops and religious leaders on the morning of the first day of the Royal Commission into abuse in faith-based care. “The bishops and congregational Read more