HSE ‘fails to investigate’ charity’s abuse claims
One in Four executive director Maeve Lewis detailed the situation at the launch of the group’s 10th annual report yesterday.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, the senior official said abuse survivors regularly contact the group to make “retrospective” complaints about incidents that happened in their childhood.
Ms Lewis said the HSE has recently improved its proactive response to these cases with the appointment of Gordon Jeyes as chief executive of the Child and Family Support Agency.
However, she said the reality is the majority of incidents still fail to be investigated because budget and staff restrictions mean the cases are put to the back of the queue.
“A large percentage of cases, the majority of retrospective cases we are involved in, are not investigated,” she said. “It’s a question of resources and social workers don’t always understand the historical context doesn’t mean children are not still at risk.”
Abuse survivor Marie Collins said the issue must be addressed in order to help victims to receive justice and to ensure more children are not subjected to further abuse.
Highlighting the importance of the step, Ms Collins said she did not reveal her own childhood experiences until she was an adult — a time when her abuser “was still a danger to children”.
The latest One in Four annual report, available at irishexaminer.com, said in 2012 the charity received 7,695 calls and helped 1,030 people — the equivalent of 21 calls and three people being supported every day.
While the call rate is lower than 2009-2011, the number of people who have been in contact with One in Four is at its highest level ever.
The document said the number of complaints involving people being abused by family members rose from 38% in 2004 to 53% last year. Complaints about clerical abuse dropped from 37% to 16% over the same period, while abuse by a doctor or other professional and attacks by strangers have risen from 6% to 9% and 1% to 15% respectively.
Among the main ongoing issues the group raised are the at-times adversarial attitude of the justice system towards victims and denial within a family when an abuse incident takes place between one relative and another.
However, despite the group’s vital ongoing work, like other charities it is struggling to cope in the recession.
Last year, the group’s funding was €820,000, down from €980,000 in 2011 and a repeated €1m-plus rate between 2006 and 2009.
The situation means it has just seven counsellors to cover the work of 10, with some callers having to be put on waiting lists to receive help.
* For further information, contact One in Four on 01 662 4070, e-mail to info@oneinfour.ie or see www.oneinfour.ie
* Labelling child abusers “evil beasts” and throwing away the key will do nothing to resolve the underlying problems causing the incidents, a leading campaigner has warned.
One in Four executive director Maeve Lewis made the claim after a number of recent high-profile cases relating to alleged attacks on children.
The campaigner did not want to discuss the details of specific incidents as they may affect future court cases.
However, she said that, regardless of the graphic nature of the crimes, describing those involved as “evil beasts” or “non-human” does not address underlying issues involved.
“Working to try and prevent their offending in the future is an important part of child protection — no matter how difficult the path to it may be,” said Ms Lewis.
“They [abusers] are not aliens sent down from Mars. They can be imprisoned, but they will be coming out. What will we do then?
“We need to bring them to a point where they recognise the unbearable harm they have caused.”
Her stance was mirrored by clerical abuse survivor Marie Collins, who said the problem could not be ignored.
“The reality is those who harm children are part of our society,” she said. “They are brothers, fathers, sons, husbands and partners. Ignoring them does not change that.”
In 2008, One in Four established a sub-group known as the Phoenix programme in an attempt to help child abusers understand and address what lead them to the crimes.
At the end of last year, the programme had been in discussions with 101 child abusers, 34 of whom contacted the group in 2012 alone. Six are currently serving prison terms.
Ms Lewis stressed all information about anyone on the programme is immediately forwarded to the gardaí and HSE, while background checks take place to ensure there is no ongoing risk to a child.
She said while the majority of contacts are “self-referrals”, the reality is most have already been caught by family members or the justice system.
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