Historical child abuse within faith organisations
The Executive Office has commissioned a programme of work to look at allegations of child abuse related to faith organisations not yet been examined by previous Inquiries such as the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIAI). The HIAI was an independent Inquiry into the abuse of children in residential institutions (other than schools) in N. Ireland (NI) between 1922 and 1995. Abuse that did not take place in a residential setting fell outside the scope of that Inquiry.
Consequently, the Inter-Departmental Working group (IDWG) have commissioned a programme of work on behalf of the Executive Office to look at this. The aim is to help them understand the nature and prevalence of abuse which has been alleged to have occurred relating to faith organisations and the impact on victims/ survivors. Te research covers all faith organisations in NI, and also a range of people who have been employed by, volunteered with or otherwise worked with or alongside faith organisations. It also covers all forms of child abuse.
What are we working on?
We are part of a consortium with the University of Birmingham and Queen's University Belfast which has been commissioned to review literature and examine the records relating to allegations of abuse in faith settings held by faith groups, criminal justice agencies and social services. The team working on the project are Dr Helga Sneddon, Professor Máiread Enright, Professor Chérie Armour and Katrina Hinfey.
The project will examine records relating to abuse that was alleged to have occurred between 1922 and 2010 (inclusive). We are approaching all faith organisations which have had activities in NI since 1922 (excluding residential institutions). The scope of the work is to focus on abuse that occurred outside residential institutions in NI and which therefore was not examined in the previous Historical Abuse Inquiry. For the purposes of the programme, the term 'abuse' includes neglect, exploitation and physical, emotional, psychological and sexual abuse. The term 'clerical' relates to a range of people involved in faith settings and organisations.
We anticipate that different faith groups will have kept records in different ways over such as a lengthy time period and the nature of the information recorded will also vary. The first stage of the project is therefore for us to scope out what type of information exists and how accessible it is. This scoping stage is currently underway.
If your faith organisation has not yet received any information directly about the project, please contact us on helgasneddon@outcomeimps.com so you can be included in the scoping research.
Overview of HCCA project 20-8-24.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [193.2 KB]
Faith organisations abuse research templ[...]
Adobe Acrobat document [605.6 KB]
If you have experienced any distress, support is available from Lifeline. Lifeline counsellors are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to listen and help in confidence. People living in Northern Ireland can call Lifeline on 0808 808 8000. Deaf and hard of hearing Textphone users can call Lifeline on 18001 0808 808 8000. Calls to Lifeline are free to people living in Northern Ireland who are calling from UK landlines and mobiles.
Support is also available from the Samaritans 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from anywhere in Ireland by calling 116 123 free from any phone or by emailing jo@samaritans.ie or jo@samaritans.org.
For more information about this project, please contact us on helgasneddon@outcomeimps.com
Director:
Dr Helga Sneddon
Email: helgasneddon@outcomeimps.com
Tel: +44 (0) 7894906003
Contact us on: enquiries@outcomeimps.com
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