Abuse in Care: Faith-based institutions to respond in final royal commission hearing

Wednesday, 5 October 2022

Dilworth School has been called to respond to allegations of abuse between 1950 and 1999 by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.

Dilworth School sexual abuse survivor Neil Harding hopes for honesty at the final Abuse in Care hearing.

Harding, along with other survivors of religious organisations between 1950 and 1999, will be watching the Royal Commission of Inquiry’s Abuse in Care faith-based institution response hearing closely as leaders take the stand next week to answer to allegations of abuse and neglect.

“What the commission is doing is lancing a boil, and there’s so much pus,” Harding said.

“It’s not necessarily individuals within the institutions that went bad, the whole system is a rotten apple, and it’s the inability of those institutions, the unwillingness of those institutions, to actually stop what was happening at the time.”

Former Dilworth chaplain and Scout leader Ross Browne outside the Auckland District Court in 2020

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Faith-based institution leaders will be questioned by lawyers and commissioners about their failure to provide adequate care and respond to the allegations of abuse and neglect.

Dilworth survivor Neil Harding says he’s looking forward to seeing if the institutions’ leaders will defend their organisations against the allegations of abuse.

Gloriavale Christian Community will take the stand first on Thursday, followed by leaders from Dilworth School, Silverstream’s St Patrick’s College, and Wesley College, as well as heads of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, the dioceses and congregations of the Catholic Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, the Methodist Church of New Zealand, and the Presbyterian support Central, support Otago, and Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.

All will be asked to address the allegations made by survivors.

These organisations will be asked how the care systems were monitored, how those in care were protected from physical, psychological, sexual abuse and neglect, if the organisations met Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations, and to what extent the needs of Māori, Pacific, and people with disabilities and mental heath conditions were met.

The hearing follows a damning report released in 2021 highlighting a culture of religious organisations protecting their own over the children in care.

However, Harding, who has been instrumental in bringing the historical abuse of Dilworth School to light, lacked faith that the leaders would front up to their role in destroying the lives of many survivors.

“They’re only talking to the royal commission because they’re forced to,” Harding said.

“I’m interested to see the degree of acknowledgement of [Dilworth’s] role on Friday, of how candid they are in what happened or whether they are going to shut up shop.”

The royal commission has also banned religious attire and uniforms from being worn by witnesses and others attending the hearing to prevent any survivors being triggered by their presence.

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The public hearing will be held from October 13 to 20 in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and will be accessible live online from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care website.

Following the hearing, commissioners will assess the information gathered in the inquiry and issue a report of recommendations for changes in a final report to the governor-general in June 2023.