Fight for sexual abuse inquest

Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) is fighting for an inquest into sexual abuse inflicted on care leavers while in orphanages.

The advocacy group, founded for Australians who grew up in institutional care, received a national apology from Kevin Rudd to the care leavers earlier this year and this is their next mission.

The two founding members of CLAN, Dr Joanna Penglase and Leonie Sheedy, were leading figures in the Federal Government Senate Inquiry and gaining the apology.

Spokesperson James Luthy discussed CLAN’s impact and why they were fighting for these measures.

“Rudd’s apology and the response by Malcolm Turnbull were an acknowledgement that these things happened”, he said.

“Children in homes were beaten, starved, denied medical treatment, sexually, emotionally, physically and psychologically abused. They were never shown care or love and in many instances were called by their number not their name.”

Mr Luthy himself came from The Gill Memorial Home for Boys, an orphanage run by the Salvation Army.  Dr Penglase described it as “a template for inhumanity” and Mr Luthy echoed these sentiments.

“This was a place where Salvation Army officers sexually abused boys,” he said. “There was never any reporting of these things to the police even though the Salvation Army knew about it. My number was 23, my name didn’t count.

“Older care leavers need and want an inquiry. They want justice done, they want closure and they want redress.They want churches to treat them with courtesy and dignity and stop the ongoing abuse that they still suffer,” Mr Luthy said

President of Adults Surviving Child Abuse, Cathy Kezelman, supported the inquest.

“By making a submission to the UN Committee against Torture, CLAN is raising awareness internationally about the abuse, neglect and in some cases, torture of children in care in Australian government-run institutions, including orphanages, children’s homes and foster homes,” she said.

CLAN is seeking an inquiry which will allow Care leavers to be heard and to receive redress for the crimes perpetrated against them. Ms Kezelman said: “One also hopes that such an inquiry would help us learn better how to protect children in care in the future and keep them safe.”