we were children - Ep.9 The Dilworth Law: Part 1

[Music] how did New Zealand's wealthiest School become the center of one of the country's biggest sexual abuse cases at the boys only boarding school Dilworth hundreds of students suffered serious abuse over three decades what's more they say the school went out of its way to cover it up Dilworth school that had a sparkling reputation and a noble goal to take in disadvantaged children and give them education faith and opportunity the school that promised these boys so much instead took everything from them nestled in the heart of Auckland is a century-old boarding school its Founders were James and Isabella Dilworth a childless couple who left behind their property fortune and a lofty vision documents show that in 1978 Dilworth knew at least five other students were being abused by Peter Taylor that number later grew to 10. the school claims it carried out an internal investigation into the offending but since the report was inexplicably destroyed years later the police were never called instead minutes from a Dilworth board meeting show Peter Taylor was allowed to quietly resign Peter Taylor died in 2012 aged 74. if he was alive police say he'd likely join the list of 12 men already charged with sexual assault at Dilworth police launched operation Beverly in 2019 they've already identified 139 victims at Dilworth an investigators believe another 96 children were likely abused welcome to another episode of we were children a doer School survivors vlog today we will be looking at the door worth law an initiative of mine to make mandatory reporting of child abuse law in New Zealand so what exactly is mandatory reporting mandatory reporting is currently in law throughout Australia let's have a look at this clip put out by the Queensland government on mandatory reporting all members of the community have a responsibility to protect children any person in the community may report to the Department of communities child safety and Disability Services if they honestly and reasonably suspect a child has suffered is suffering or is at unacceptable risk of suffering significant harm and may not have a parent willing and able to protect them in addition there are certain professionals with mandatory reporting obligations under the child protection act 1999. these include doctors registered nurses teachers employed at a school certain police officers persons engaged to perform a child advocate function under the public Guardian act 2014 and early childhood educational Care Professionals mandatory reporters are required by the child protection act 1999 to report to child safety when they form a recordable suspicion for medical reporters a reportable suspicion about a child is a reasonable suspicion that the child has suffered is suffering or is it unacceptable risk of suffering significant harm caused by physical or sexual abuse and may not have a parent willing and able to protect the child from harm mandatory reporters must report to child safety when they have formed a reasonable suspicion that a child is a child in need of protection caused by physical or sexual abuse in addition mandatory reporters May report to child safety a reasonable suspicion that a child is in need of protection caused by any other type of abuse any person may report to child safety a reasonable suspicion a chunk may be in need of protection no matter how this arises where concerns do not meet the definition of a child in need of protection an individual may continue to work with the family or take on the action to help it's important to know that reporters are not responsible for the assessment of their Reasonable Suspicion or the final decision makers of whether a child is in need of protection they only need to honestly and reasonably hold a suspicion that a child is in need of protection because a child has suffered is suffering or is at risk of suffering significant harm and the child's parents may not be willing and able to protect him from harm the final determination about whether a child is in need of protection will be made by child safety if a report is made to child safety it must satisfy road that a child has suffered is suffering or is at risk of suffering significant harm and does not have a parent a able and willing to protect the child from the significant harm if both criteria are not satisfied the matter is not investigated because it does not reach the legislative threshold for child safety to undertake an assessment in this instance child safety May refer the family to a family and child connect service to offer support to help them get back on track before their problems escalate mandatory reporting another way to keep children the reason I wanted a new mandatory reporting law to be called the door with law is so this event where hundreds of boys were sexually physically psychologically and or emotionally abused while in Dewer schools care aren't forgotten about by door school and swept under the carpet like the abuse was by calling it the door worth law will be like itching it into the stonewalls of dulworth so future students see the past a reminder to be on the lookout for Predators who come across as your friend my strategy to make this happen was to create an online petition which I did then present that petition to the abuse and Care Royal Commission of inquiry in the hope that it forms part of the final report for recommendations to government to implement the door with law I joined forces with Neil Harding who is a well-known door Survivor Advocate to help make this happen together we presented the doorworth law to the Royal Commission Neil did a fantastic job of presenting the petition to the Royal commission the emotion of the moment was really felt by Neil and myself and shared by everyone in the room Mr Harding I understand you would like to address us first is that correct that's correct thank you um thank you for this opportunity for us to address the commission my name is Neil Harding I am a door with Survivor I'm middle-aged gray brown here blue suit blue tie light blue shirt and with me is Greg Evans yes I know I'm a senior male of large build we're in a charcoal suit glasses pink shirt and Thai thank you once upon a time we assumed institutions such as schools and churches a badass society's laws and we're therefore Beyond reproach that it was impossible for the figures of authority that ran them to do wrong and conspire to do wrong but we have since discovered that doorway's school chose to participate in an enormous wrong against children they chose to cover up the vilest of sexual abuse over 30 pedophiles abused hundreds of boys over a 40-year period it seemed the reputation of their organization was more important than the welfare of the boys in their care and contradiction to the moral values the school was supposed to reflect and live by as survivors our mission as part of our healing Journey is to prevent the children of tomorrow being harmed being harmed by institutions that allow travesty such as this to occur we experienced as well as the loss of our innocence the unraveling of many of the of the lives of either ourselves or our classmates and Friends we experience the devastating news of the suicide of many of our brothers trauma trauma and the loss of Innocence endured by children contributes to many of the issues facing our society especially as they enter adulthood their neurodevelopment is adversely impacted and causes many of them to remain in a sympathetic flight or fight response where survival is as good as it gets let alone thoughts of a career or been capable of functional relationships many many end up with drug and alcohol addictions the effects of PTSD are becoming more researched and more understood we need to do a lot better today Greg Evans and I on behalf of 170 Dilworth survivors family and friends present a petition calling for a Dilworth law that would require the mandatory reporting of child abuse to police specifically the petition is asking the abuse in care raw Commission of inquiry to recommend to the New Zealand government the inflammation the implementation of the door with law this law would require a person or entity to report to police if a child or young person is at risk of significant harm the child or young person has been or is at risk of being physically or sexually abused or ill-treated this law already exists in New South Wales under the children and young persons care and protection act 1998 number 157 part two we were astounded to learn that in New Zealand there is currently no such law if this law had existed and been followed when we were at Dilworth most of us would never have been sexually abused we appreciate the Royal commission's understanding of Survivor voice and it would greatly help us to know that institutions like deal with school can never be allowed to cover up abuse again I was rarely taken back by how the Royal commission made a special session for receiving the petition with judge Coral Shaw chair of the royal commission coming down to the floor and accepting that off Neil Harding and I will come down and take their petition for me on behalf of the on behalf of the Commissioners I accept the petition and I I'm sure the survivors that we will certainly take it into a deep consideration thank you very much I have to say it was a real surprise to see the Anglican Church supporting mandatory reporting in that regard on this topic of preventing abuse we have learned today of the petition that you have received and I've only had an opportunity to speak to the primates but they personally the two archbishops support the request and the petition for a law change requiring mandatory reporting of abuse what was even a biggest surprise was to wear school's response to mandatory reporting one of the issues that the inquiries heard from some witnesses on and will be considering is is the question of mandatory reporting and whether that should be an element of our the future system design that might might infect um help keep people safe prevent abuse or one so that when it's found that people are that's reported to the right Channel and the right actions are taken at the time do you have a perspective yourself from your current role as chair of whether a mandatory reporting regime would be a useful tool in the kitty to keep boys safe oh I think it's essential I think it's essential that people are not given the opportunity to make judgment calls that there are there is a codified and legal responsibility to report abuse particularly sexual abuse and I I note in Australia this week that there has been initiatives to try and eliminate um abuse against women and children and I think New Zealand needs to needs to look at regimes to seriously confront the issue of abusive children what was disappointing with the Catholic church's response to mandatory reporting commission is one of the big challenges in respecting the ethnic communities and cultures within the Catholic church is how to address issues which we also recognize are barriers to disclosure of harm there are a number a significant number of different different ethnic groups in the Catholic faith in New Zealand these groups all have deep cultural and ethnic roots to the religious expression of their Catholic faith and those are rich and vital but one of the challenges is presents Commissioners is how to address elements of those cultures which are simultaneously barriers to reporting abuse such as respect for elders for clericalism Catholic leaders have taken steps to reduce clericalism in several ways within the Catholic church in recent times and some communities have seen this as an attack on their culture and on their faith and this has resulted in a split in a number of communities this is a very difficult issue Commissioners for the Catholic leaders to know how to address this further work is being undertaken of course culturally informed safeguarding training is being provided but these barriers to reporting abuse must be reduced in all communities including ethnic communities which hold beliefs that create barriers it needs to be undertaken my clients recognize in a way that's respectful to the communities and recognizing their rights for self-determination and accordingly we would invite your thoughts and guidance on how these matters can be best addressed I could I thought initially when I saw this article in the New Zealand Herald that the Catholic church had done a backflip and supported mandatory reporting but I missed the detail snaps tore through the spin and made this statement snap survivor's network of those abused by priests atiaroa said in a statement that the church's proposals lacked credibility and had upset survivors for Catholic church leaders to say they support mandatory reporting but with exceptions is simply a contradiction because mandatory reporting means there must be no legal confessional and therapeutic privilege only respect for privacy at the sole requests of the victim or Survivor the group said snap also said that survivors were yet to see any substantial changes in the way the Catholic Church responded to abuse complaints I agree with SNAP he can't have exceptions too mandatory reporting that's why it's called mandatory no exceptions I would like to take this opportunity to thank the abuse and Care Royal Commissioner of inquiry for the respect the Commissioners gave Neil Harding and I when we presented the Dilworth law making a special time for the presentation and judge Coral Shaw chair of the royal commission coming down to the floor to accept the petition was really appreciated thank you please subscribe to this channel thank you for watching [Music] invisibility was alive today should be [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: we were children

Views: 1,005

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Id: vhzi8aJYWmE

Length: 18min 49sec (1129 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 10 2023