Institutions and Child Sexual Abuse

What role do institutions play in childhood sexual abuse? Are they always on the side of the person who experienced the abuse… or is it more often that they choose to cover up, which can often mean siding with the abuser? Is anything being done about this? Join Sophia (she/her) and Human Rights Lawyer Wren (she/her) as they discuss the criminal justice system, work, schools and reports that are trying to change this.DEFINITIONSDuring the episode, Wren uses some legal terminology which we will define here:Issued proceedings = The issuing of proceedings involves filling details of the claim, such as the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim, at court. The court will then serve this on the defendant for them to answer to. (Scott Rees) This usually costs money.Settled out of Court = In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins.Actual knowledge = Actual knowledge is direct and clear knowledge where the relevant party knows of a particular item of event that causes a breach. In Wren’s case, this was that her school had seen harmful messages sent to her from her abuser.ADDITIONAL RESOURCES MENTIONED The Independent Inquiry Into Childhood Sexual Abuse“In December 2021, the Home Office published a study into the costs relating to children whose contact sexual abuse began or continued in the year ending March 2019. The estimated cost to society exceeded £10 billion.”The Truth ProjectIf you would like more information on reporting and handling your own situation, head to the ‘resources’ section of our website.Key Messages from the CSA centre about Insitutional Childhood Sexual AbuseSupport the showYou can find out more about the project at www.secretsworthsharing.com We're on Instagram and TikTok if you want to see more. You can also sign up to our newsletter.Thank you for taking part in this difficult conversation with serious joy.