Barnardo’s ‘sorry’ over child abuse

THE UK’s biggest childcare charity yesterday claimed there had been no ‘malice’ in its mistreatment of children – as it formally apologised to those abused in its homes.

Former Barnardo’s executive Sara Clarke now works for it as a consultant, helping it tackle historic allegations of child abuse.

She said the charity was ‘deeply sorry’ for any ‘hurt’ children in its care had suffered – and accepted it had been responsible for ‘failures’ that led to abuse.

But Mrs Clarke claimed care failures had been caused by the ‘practicalities’ of looking after large numbers of youngsters in homes.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in Edinburgh has heard a series of allegations that children in Barnardo’s homes were beaten and raped. Yesterday, Mrs Clarke told the inquiry: ‘I don’t think it was done with any malice, it was just the practicalities of having so many children to organise.’

She agreed with the inquiry’s senior counsel, James Peoples, QC, that it had been a ‘huge challenge’ looking after children in homes that were ‘enormous places’. Some staff had been poorly trained and lacked experience, she said.

Asked by Mr Peoples if Barnardo’s was accepting there were ‘failures by the organisation’, Mrs Clarke said: ‘Yes.’

The inquiry continues.