Abuse in Care: Answers sought from faith-based institutions as response hearing begins
Wednesday, 12 October 2022
The Royal Commission is gearing up to ask the hard questions of faith-based institutions as the final hearing of its Abuse in Care inquiry begins.
Leaders representing faith-based schools and Christian churches from across Aotearoa will gather in Auckland from Thursday for a week-long hearing to respond to allegations of abuse, neglect and harm that have impacted the lives of children and vulnerable youth who were placed in their care between 1950 and 1999.
The commission’s head of reports for faith, Rebecca Harvey-Lane, said the team was looking forward to the coming week of questioning.
“It’s a massive hearing. At the end of this we would have had 133 days of hearings.
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“It has been a long time coming and we’re just really keen to get into it and get those answers.”
Gloriavale Christian Community will take the stand first on Thursday, followed by leaders from Silverstream’s St Patrick’s College, and Wesley College, as well as heads of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, the dioceses and congregations of the Catholic Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, the Methodist Church of New Zealand, and the Presbyterian support Central, support Otago, and Church of Aotearoa New Zealand and finally Dilworth School.
Dilworth School survivor Neil Harding told Stuff last week that he too was looking forward to hearing the institutions' answers to questions he and others have been asking for years, but had little faith those answers would be forthcoming.
However, while faith-based institutions were different to the Crown agencies in the inquiry, the commissione was ready to ask the hard questions of the organisations that harboured the alleged abuse of the nation’s vulnerable youth, Harvey-Lane said.
“The commission is hoping to get answers across the board.
“Yes faith-based are different, but they are the same in the sense that children and vulnerable adults have been put into those care settings, and survivors have told us that they’ve suffered significant abuse and neglect within those settings.
“This is about getting answers to questions as to why that occurred so we can formulate some findings and make recommendations around what changes need to happen to ensure that it doesn’t continue.”
The inquiry’s scope has focused on abuse in care between 1950 and 1999, however, the organisations involved in this hearing will also be questioned on contemporary instances of abuse, similar to the state institutional response hearing, Harvey-Lane said.
“There were a number of promises made by some of the faith-based institutions around changes that they were making to disclosures of abuse and how they would respond, so we’re looking to ask questions, given that a year has passed, as to how that is being rolled out, and how that impacted people.”
Following the advice of survivors, religious symbols and clothing have been banned from the hearing to avoid triggering anyone watching proceedings, Harvey-Lane said.
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The daily karakia and any waiata sung at the hearing would also have no any ties to religion, she said.
The public hearing will begin on October 13 and reconvene for the week on October 21 in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. It will be accessible live online from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care website.
Following the hearing, commissioners will assess the information gathered in the inquiry and issue a report of recommendations for changes in a final report to the governor-general in June 2023.