Abuse of children in care reports out today

THE 10-year wait for the results of the state investigation into abuse of children in residential care ends today with the publication of the inquiry team’s final reports.

Five volumes of findings running to 2,500 pages will be released this afternoon by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, which is expected to severely criticise the cruelty of the regimes in place at 200 institutions chiefly between the 1930s and 1980s.

Almost 2,000 former residents of industrial schools, reformatories, orphanages, boarding schools and other institutions gave evidence to the commission, either through its investigation committee, which actively probed allegations against individuals and bodies, or its confidential committee, which collected the experiences of witnesses without pursuing their complaints.