Payout for abuse victims 'deeply flawed'

Advocates for child abuse victims say the Government's plan to "fast-track" payouts for people alleging historic abuse in state care is deeply flawed and underfunded. The historic abuse claims relate to sexual, physical, and psychological abuse or neglect of children while they were in a wide range of social welfare, health, education and church-run homes, as well as foster care and family homes.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/68350176/payout-for-abuse-victims-deeply-flawed 

Child sexual abuse: women make up 10 per cent of perpetrators

A blind Vietnamese orphan who was five when she came to Australia, 11 when she was sexually abused by a Catholic nun and 35 when she received $15,000 in compensation for her "personal trauma" has spoken out for the 10 per cent of people reporting female perpetrators to the child sexual abuse royal commission.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/child-sexual-abuse-women-make-up-10-per-cent-of-perpetrators-reported-to-royal-commission-20140923-10kznh.html 

Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson pleads not guilty to concealment of child sex abuse charges.

Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson has pleaded not guilty to charges of concealing child sex abuse. The charges relate to abuse allegedly committed by fellow priest Jim Fletcher when the pair worked at NSW’s Maitland Diocese in the 1970s.

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2015/05/07/10/13/archbishop-of-adelaide-philip-wilson-pleads-not-guilty-to-concealment-of-child-sex-abuse-charges 

Bishop Finn and Cardinal Danneels: two different responses to abuse ‘cover-ups’

For some time, observers have expected the final outcome for Bishop Robert Finn, former head of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese, who was ordered by Vatican officials to tender his resignation last month. 

https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/bishop-finn-and-cardinal-danneels-two-different-responses-to-abuse-cover-up 

France Opens Criminal Inquiry Into Charges of Abuse by Peacekeepers in Africa

Judges in France will formally investigate allegations that French troops sexually abused children during peacekeeping operations in the Central African Republic, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Thursday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/08/world/europe/france-opens-criminal-inquiry-into-charges-of-abuse-by-peacekeepers-in-africa.html?emc=edit_tnt_20150507&nlid=63876270&tntemail0=y

Unwed Motherhood; Mother and Baby Homes

There was significant stigma around unmarried motherhood in the mid-twentieth century. However, having a child out of wedlock was not always looked upon so poorly; it is only as social, moral, and economic attitudes changed that women who found themselves unmarried and pregnant became stigmatized.  To understand how the mid-1960s came to become the peak period for adoption in the UK (as well as other countries), and the stigma that drove this apex of adoption, we must first understand a bit of the history affecting attitudes towards illegitimacy.

http://www.motherandbabyhomes.com/#!unwed-motherhood/c1alk 

Irish Government to reinstate Magdalene Laundries for Good Friday 2015

A government spokesperson announced plans to bring back their oft maligned “Magdalene Laundries” scheme during next year’s Easter period, on the back of the successful prohibition of the sale of alcohol on Good Friday. “This move will benefit parents everywhere”, said the spokesperson. “Nuns will arrive and take your children for the day. Parents across Ireland will enjoy a well-earned break”.

http://www.theemptyshirt.com/2014/04/18/irish-government-to-reinstate-magdalene-laundries-for-good-friday-2015/ 

Abuse, “God’s” Involvement and the Catholic Church’s Attempt to Square this Circle

The Catholic Church will forever be tarnished with what their priests have done in some of their parishes to “spread the love” in the name of what they preach is their loving, peaceful and merciful god: SEXUAL CHILD ABUSE! 

https://britishfemaleatheist.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/abuse-gods-involvement-and-the-catholic-churchs-attempt-to-square-this-circle/ 

More clergy abuse, secrecy cases Records detail quiet shifting of rogue priests

Desperate to contain the burgeoning scandal in the priesthood, the Archdiocese of Boston for years dealt in secret with allegations that a priest had terrorized and beaten his housekeeper, another had traded cocaine for sex, and a third had enticed young girls by claiming to be “the second coming of Christ,” newly released church records show.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/special-reports/2002/12/04/more-clergy-abuse-secrecy-cases/O5QkXOZG73XodD0X5hcPzJ/story.html 

Witnesses at the Royal Commission.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is a special opportunity for survivors of sexual abuse to be heard at the highest level of Australian law. It gives voice to people who have been forced to be silent or unable to speak for far too long.

http://kernaghanblog.com/2015/04/25/witnesses-at-the-royal-commission/