As always, this has been a busy month for the In Good Faith Foundation team. As our case workers continue to provide support and advocacy to individuals, families and communities impacted by institutional abuses, the whole team have been providing key feedback and lobbying for systemic change.
This newsletter outlines just a few of our recent activities. For more information and regular updates you can check out our (newly redesigned!) website, Facebook page, or subscribe to our mailing list.
You can also get in touch with us by calling (03) 9940 1533 and leaving a voicemail for us to reply to, or by emailing [email protected].
Second Anniversary Review of the National Redress Scheme
This week, IGFF made our written submission to the Second Anniversary Review of the National Redress Scheme.
As we provide a comprehensive care model, our team focuses on collaborative advocacy and ensuring that each client’s voice remains central to their tailored processes, empowering clients to take an active role in their recovery journey. All our systemic feedback, case stories and suggestions come out of the first-hand experiences of IGFF case workers and clients.
We gave feedback on key areas of concern, particularly regarding the implementation and operation of the Scheme. This included discussion of:
- The way many individuals who gave testimony before the Royal Commission are being excluded from the Scheme, with limited access to support services or pathways for redress. This group includes people like secondary Survivors, whistle-blowers, witnesses, and those whose responsible institutions may never ‘opt-in’.
- Problematic and triggering responses from responsible institutions, whether they have disappointingly chosen not to sign onto the Scheme, or given confusing and re-traumatising direct personal responses. ‘Opting-in’ has been a slow process for many institutions, and there have been difficulties for people who made early submissions to the Scheme.
- Inconsistency in decision making processes and internal procedures, with issues in particular around mandatory reporting, and the specific language used around letters of offers, counselling and psychological care.
Establishing the Scheme has been a significant process, but we believe that it is crucial that Survivors’ experiences are centred and reflected at every stage of its systems and implementation.
As our team advocates and liaises with relevant support networks and other professionals, we believe that the individual mental and physical health and stability of each client is of key importance. This is true from the earliest stages of considering different justice and redress options all the way to offers and establishing ongoing counselling and support.
Engaging with a redress process is a significant step for many people, and it is important that each person’s individual needs and concerns are addressed. As a client recently reflected:
Thanks again for facilitating my previous phone conversation with the Scheme and asking questions I did not have the capacity to ask or think of and helping to debrief the upsetting call.
Thank you to IGFF and you both for taking on the ‘Nominee’ role on my behalf with the Scheme. I appreciate the ‘insulation’ from dealing with them directly. I find it much less anxiety provoking to engage and discuss the matters related to my application for redress with you both – I cannot demonstrate my gratitude for the sense of ‘insulation and space’ from the administrators of the Scheme.
Feedback Survey Now Open
The Independent Review have opened their feedback surveys: one for Survivors and one advocates, family members, carers and friends.
The process is completely confidential, and the questions can provide a series of prompts to answer if you want to give feedback but don’t know what exactly you want to say.
There is also the opportunity to send in your survey postally, and to be sent a postage paid envelope. If you would like to talk about what this means, you can get in touch with our team and we can help out.
Updates to the Victorian Justice System
This week, the Supreme Court in Victoria overturned a historic deed of releasefor a Survivor who had received a small settlement from the Catholic Church in 1996.
This decision recognises that low payments made under responsible institutions’ internal schemes, like the Melbourne Response, will now be able to be reconsidered, reviewed, and Survivors able to seek justice and a more equitable recognition of their experiences.
As IGFF CEO Clare Leaney stated:
For many Survivors the deeds of release were used to silence victims and to offer meagre sums, that rarely reflected the horrific nature of their abuse.
We anticipate that hundreds of Victorian Survivors will now finally be able to seek the justice and redress they deserve.
This follows on from other Victorian news last month, when the Let Us Speak campaign brought public attention to the way in which, under Victorian legislation, Survivors who have spoken publicly about their experiences are now expected to apply for a court order in order to continue doing so.
While the Attorney-General has committed to changing this law as a matter of urgency, we are still waiting for the reforms to go through.
In International News…
Malka Leifer Can be Extradited
While she has decided to appeal further, this month the Jerusalem District Court decided that Malka Leifer should be extradited to Australia.
As Voicsa CEO and advocate Manny Waks reflected, on calling the sisters who have been fighting for this result:
I then went outside to update the waiting media and called the sisters so they could share their reaction. To me, that was the most emotional time – speaking to these brave girls, and hearing them speak to the media via Facetime on my iPad. I felt their collective relief.
The ongoing extradition process has been exhausting for those involved, with over 60 hearings and subject to extreme delays. In the end, it took less than 10 seconds for Judge Lomp to announce that she should be extradited. It is well past time to #BringLeiferBack.
International Inquiries
Institutional abuse is an international issue, and often Survivors have experiences that cross national borders. Ongoing inquiries and hearings are underway into institutional abuse and abuse in care internationally. Currently:
- Over 500 Survivors have provided testimony to the New Zealand Abuse in Care Inquiry,
- The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in Germany has commenced,
- The Inquiries in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are set to release their final reports and recommendations soon.
These Inquiries aim to provide a place for Survivors to provide testimony of their experiences, and we hope that these experiences will be listened to and lead to systemic change.
Addressing Jehovah’s Witness Accountability
In Australia, the Jehovah’s Witnesses are one of a handful of organisations completely refusing to sign onto the National Redress Scheme.
Over the past month, two international responses towards the organisation’s refusal to be held accountable have included:
Belgium
In Belgium, in a first case of its kind anywhere in the world, the organisation are being tried in a criminal court. This is the first time an entire congregation has been charged with a crime in this way, and we will be following closely.
As a Survivor reflected, on the impact being shunned had on his life:
I had literally no one left in my life; the Witnesses make sure that you have no social contact outside the organisation – including family. Even my very best friend wouldn’t speak to me any more. I sank into a depression.
The Netherlands
The Dutch government are also seeking to prosecute members of organisations who refuse to report sexual abuse in their organisations. They have also announced a special hotline for Jehovah’s Witness Survivors.
As the Minister responsible for developing this process has stated:
The leadership is leaving vulnerable victims out in the cold. Victims of sexual abuse in the Netherlands have the same right to access help, care and justice, regardless of which community they belong to.
