UK Report on Child Sexual Abuse Released

The UK’s report on child sexual abuse in a number of religious institutions has been released. Like most such reports, it’s tough reading. There are several important lessons in the report for youth-serving organizations:

• Survivors and the commission believe that the institutions did not take the claims seriously. To quote the report, “The protection of personal and institutional reputations above the protection of children was a frequent institutional reaction.”
• Institutions not only need to investigate claims thoroughly, but offer some sort of assistance to victims. As the report noted, “The institutional responses often involved insincere apologies and the inadequate provision of support and counselling, thereby compounding the harm.”
• Finally, institutions need to not only have child protection policies in place, but follow them rigorously. “Some institutions had no child protection policies and procedures. Where policies and procedures were in existence, they were often inadequate or not complied with. Inspections of institutions were, at times, lacking. Recommendations made following internal or external reviews were infrequently implemented and sometimes ignored.”

Deficiencies from decades ago are understandable, given that the field of child protection was in its infancy. But now we know enough for youth-serving institutions to be accountable for not following these best practices.