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HomeUK NewsChurch of England 'allowed child sexual abusers to hide'

Church of England ‘allowed child sexual abusers to hide’

The Church of England has failed in protecting children from sexual abuse, and has created a culture where child abusers “could hide”, a report has concluded

The Independent Inquiry into the Child Sex Abuse’s report says that the Church’s consistent failure to respond to victims of child abuse added additional trauma.

It added that the alleged perpetrators of the abuse were often given more support form the Church than the victims were. The Church has that said it felt “shame” over the failings detailed in this “shocking” report.

The report, which is the latest in a series of publications from the IICSA, has said that 390 clergy members within the organisation, as well as other church leaders had been convicted of abuse in the period of time between the 1940s and 2018.

This comes after Boris Johnson has dismissed the claims that COVID-19 has “robbed me of my mojo” as the PM announced promises for social care and green energy, as well as housing during his speech at the Conservative Party conference.

The Church has defended alleged child abuse perpetrators instead of protecting those children and young people who were the victims of sexual predators, the report has added.

It cited the example of the late Robert Waddington, the cathedral dean, about whom serious child abuse allegations were made back in 1999. The then Archbishop of York said that there was “simply no possibility” of the claims of abuse being correct.

It also cited Reverend Ian Hughes, from Merseyside, who had been convicted in 2014 for downloading 8,000 indecent images of children. His offending was then played down by a senior colleague within the church.

Church of England 'allowed child sexual abusers to hide'
Reverend Ian Hughes

The report also found that examples of clergymen being ordained despite a history of child sexual offences.

The inquiry had said that the Church of England did not take allegations seriously and neglected the “physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of children and young people in favour of protecting its reputation” – which was in direct conflict with its mission “of love and care for the innocent and the vulnerable”.

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The inquiry’s chairwoman, Prof Alexis Jay, said: “Over many decades, the Church of England failed to protect children and young people from sexual abusers, instead facilitating a culture where perpetrators could hide and victims faced barriers to disclosure that many could not overcome.”

“Within the Church in Wales, there were simply not enough safeguarding officers to carry out the volume of work required of them. Record-keeping was found to be almost non-existent and of little use in trying to understand past safeguarding issues.”

This comes after people might have been infected with COVID-19 as a result of nearly 16,000 positive coronavirus cases being missed from the government’s test and trace scheme, a cabinet minister has admitted.

The report concedes that there had been “a number of important improvements” in child protection practices within the Church of England in recent years, but Prof Jay said that it was “vital” that the Church improves how it responds to allegations of child sexual abuse.

Eve Cooper
Eve Cooper
I've been writing articles and stories for as long as I can remember and in the past few years I've had the fortune of turning that love & passion for writing into my job :)

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