Sticking to truth and reality in tackling child sexual abuse
Your Letters March 10 2006
We refer to recent correspondence and your report (March 6) on
childhood sexual abuse issues which we consider are misleading.
Jim Fairlie's letter made reference to a booklet entitled A Can
of Worms, the publication of which was indeed welcomed by the
membership of the Cross Party Group on Survivors of Childhood
Sexual Abuse as one of a range of measures which raise awareness
on the issue of child sexual abuse.
To this extent the statement that the cross-party group endorsed
the booklet is accurate but it is our understanding that it is
not funded, as he suggests, as part of the £2m survivors'
strategy from the Scottish Executive.
Perhaps a better course of action for the sake of accuracy would
be to contact the joint authors of the booklet and its funders
directly, for verification on its commission and what consultation
process was in place prior to its dissemination.
On the broader issue of the cross-party group membership we can
confirm that this consists of survivors of child sex abuse, as
well as a wide range of people who hold professional qualifications
and have many years' experience of working in this field.
Furthermore, as a result of our cross-party group's work over
the past few years, which has been supported by the Scottish Parliament
and our executive, Scotland is now at the forefront of tackling
this very difficult and complex issue.
As a result the £2m for a survivors' strategy referred to
earlier was set up in acknowledgement of the fact that childhood
sexual abuse is sadly all too prevalent in our society, and that
we must all face up to this fact and seek ways to support those
children past and present.
The cross-party group does not comment on or become involved with
individual cases, nor does it offer an opinion on past investigations
into child sexual abuse.
We therefore sincerely hope the issue and prevalence of childhood
sexual abuse do not continue to be misrepresented by inaccurate
reporting and that we will continue to tackle it in a pragmatic
and co-ordinated manner that ensures truth and reality are not
obscured. The cross-party group is aware that abusers of all kinds
throughout history depend on silencing the victims and those who
support them, and we will continue to give survivors a voice –
our founding principle.
Neil Crooks, parliamentary researcher for Marilyn Livingstone,
MSP, on behalf of office-bearers of the Cross Party Group in the
Scottish Parliament for Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse.
I am not aware of the background to the letter by Jim Fairlie
(Encouraging false accusations of sex abuse – March 8) so
I shall not comment on its main thrust.
However, in using the Cleveland child abuse cases as an example,
Mr Fairlie appears to be unaware of pertinent facts. In 70% of
the cases the courts or families accepted that the children were
in danger and of the original 118 place of safety orders only
26 were rescinded. It is now accepted by many that Dr Marietta
Higgs and Dr Geoff Wyatt were the victims of opportunistic politicians
and a media witchhunt.
The main outcome of Cleveland was the switch from a care stance
in relation to abuse to a legal one; this has not been a positive
move.
Jim McLean,18 Wemysshaven Gardens, East Wemyss, Fife.
Please
read our investigations on how wrong this guy is and his total
missunderstanding of the cleavland case
