Department failed to ensure care

THE Department of Education was not effective in ensuring a satisfactory level of care for children in industrial and reform schools, the Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse (CICA) found.

According to the commission, for the schools to work properly the system needed an authoritative overseer, and if the department declined to play such a role then there was no one to do so.

In its assessment of the department of Education, the commission found that the department provided finance to the schools and oversaw their operation, but left day-to-day control to the congregations and orders that operated them.