Payouts for Children’s Society victims of sex abuse

ONE OF the country’s biggest children’s charities has paid compensation to a number of child sex victims who were abused in its care.

The Children’s Society has also publicly apologised and admitted that several children were abused emotionally, physically and sexually while staying in the homes it ran. It has paid compensation for abuse, dating back to the 1950s, in 20 cases and provided counselling in a further 33.

In its apology, the charity said: “We profoundly apologise to anyone who was abused emotionally, physically and sexually as children while in the care of The Children’s Society in the UK and any child whose life was blighted by being migrated to other parts of the world, including any child migrant who suffered at the hands of abusers in their new country.

“We also recognise that whenever The Children’s Society let down a child that it was supposed to care for, the charity also failed the people who had so generously supported our work as a charity.”

A spokesman for the charity acknowledged the apology was “long overdue” and said it wanted to face up to past mistakes and learn from its failings in a bid to ensure children are protected from abuse.

The Children’s Society has also commissioned an independent review of historical abuse allegations, and how they were handled by the organisation. It is being carried out at the same time as the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) is investigating.

As part of its work, the inquiry is looking at historical child migration that saw many agencies and charities assist in the movement of tens of thousands of children overseas in the last century. The Children’s Society facilitated the migration of 3,700 children to Australia, Canada and Zimbabwe – then Southern Rhodesia – with 153 of them between 1947 and 1961.

Addressing them directly, it said: “Those children who went abroad were promised a better life but for some the optimistic future they were looking forward to never happened. We are deeply sorry for the hurt and anguish suffered by these children and the lifelong impact of these traumatic experiences.”