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Dear Mary
The first abuse was locking children up, each child in these institutions had a Detention Order served against them in a District Court. This criminalised children .... all the religious orders were involved in that criminalisation --- indeed these religious orders "touted" for children to be sent to their detention centres; one letter in my possession, written by a representative of these orders, actually complains about the lack of committals to the institutions and berates District Court Justices for their reluctance to send children into institutions.
The second abuse was the giving children into the "care" of celibate men and women who were unfit and untrained for the task of looking after children - and remember that childcare is NOT rocket science. These institutions used the children as unpaid labour - that's the polite term - but can be accurately called child slavery. These religious orders enriched themselves on the blood, sweat & tears of little children.
The third abuse was that these orders in the Institutions DID NOT have "full responsibility for the children in care"; NO. The Department for Education had oversight over the Institutions and the Department, like these orders, failed to look out for these very vulnerable children. FAILED in fact, FAILED in Law.
The fourth abuse was that these religious orders received one third of the average wage FOR EACH CHILD in the Institutions .... EACH CHILD. Like I said: CHILDCARE IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE. Yet these orders could not feed, clothe or educate the children in their care. Don't take my word for that just get a copy of the 35 year old Kennedy Report and look at the results of the educational tests the Kennedy Committee carried out on children in the institutions in 1967 ..... the results of these tests showed that over 45% of the children were educationally sub-normal ..... yet these orders were also running Secondary Schools, Boarding Schools with the same amounts of money and the children in these fee-paying schools were not starved or maltreated, or given a sub-standard education.
The fifth abuse is that these orders are STILL in contact, and working with vulnerable communities. It stands to reason that ABUSES are CONTINUING.
And you know what Mary ??? It was a HELLUVA deal for the religious orders .... they have paid very little for the appalling abuses committed against children, abuses for which they ARE culpable.
See letter to which this is a responseAndrew
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