Jewish Care Victoria Responds to the Age Article, and Individual Concerned Responds

Manny Waks
February 10, 2016

http://www.mannywaks.com/blog/jewish-care-victoria-responds-to-the-age-article-and-email-author-responsds

In response to yesterday's article in Melbourne, Victoria's The Age newspaper, Jewish Care has issued a public statement, which is reproduced below. Below that is the response by the individual referred to in Jewish Care's statement.

Jewish Care public statement

Bill Appleby, Jewish Care CEO formally responds to an article that has been published in The Age newspaper on February 10, 2016 entitled Yeshivah Centre Abuse Victims Fear Bullying, Intimidation.

Last December, we announced that we would assist the Yeshivah Centre in the operation of their Redress Scheme which was established to offer assistance to victims of child sexual abuse.

Jewish Care agreed to operate a confidential 1800 number and email address for abuse victims. In addition, our President Mike Debinski was engaged in a personal and separate capacity to oversee the operation of the Scheme.

Our Board agreed to assist Yeshivah because we felt that we were uniquely and appropriately placed to offer assistance to the victims and that we have the relevant expertise in the area to most effectively respond to survivors of abuse; ensuring a caring and empathetic initial response to what is no doubt a traumatic disclosure.

The Board and I are extremely disappointed with the article as it contains a number of serious factual errors. Unfortunately, Jewish Care has been mentioned in The Age article as having breached a victim’s trust after an email sent to the Board of Jewish Care was sent to a member of the Committee of Management at the Yeshivah Centre.

It is absolutely vital to understand that the author of the email mentioned in the article did not identify as a victim, nor did the email contain any victim information. The content of the email only raised an issue of perceived governance concerns. Those concerns have been clarified by the Board with the assistance of independent legal advice.

The article also stated that Jewish Care is the administrator of the new sexual abuse Redress Scheme. This is incorrect. Jewish Care is not the administrator of the Yeshivah Redress Scheme. The Scheme is administered independently of Jewish Care and I have previously described our limited role above.

We believe the implication that Jewish Care Directors released information about a victim to another body is defamatory and formally requested The Age newspaper on the 9th February to immediately retract these inaccuracies.

In closing, I want to give our community, clients, residents, staff and volunteers absolute confidence that we respect and keep confidential all client information in accordance with our statutory responsibilities. This is as you would expect.

As we have done for 168 years, we continue to serve the community professionally, providing vital support for those who are most in need. We remain ready to assist and continue with our efforts on behalf of all those in the Victorian Jewish community who need our assistance.

Response by the individual concerned

?The response published this evening by Jewish Care Victoria (JCV) concerning today's article in The Age entitled 'Yeshivah Centre Abuse Victims Fear Bullying, Intimidation' is incredibly disappointing.

It reads more like some of the responses to victims which were routinely issued by Yeshivah prior to the Royal Commission than that of an organisation with a 168 year history of 'providing vital support for those who are most in need'. It amounts to no more than placing the interests of an individual who has clearly acted inappropriately, ahead of the institution. In so doing, JCV has hung victims, by whom it has unquestionably done wrong, out to dry.

There are numerous inaccuracies in the response but at this point, the following should be noted:

Mr. Appleby, Jewish Care CEO, has been aware since February 2015 that the author of the e-mail was a victim;

Even so, the argument that a victim is obliged to broadly disclose their sexual abuse or risk having sensitive concerns which they have raised with JCV being leaked to third parties is absurd;

During the Royal Commission hearing into Yeshivah, numerous 'leaders' sought to defend their bullying and harassment of victims by arguing they did not know that the person was a victim at the time;

No explanation is offered as to why the e-mail was leaked;

No mention is made of whether the JCV Board conducted an investigation into the conduct of the Board Member in question and whether that investigation was conducted in accordance with its Board Governance Policies as per the assurances it provided;

No mention is made of whether there was concern that the Board Member in question may have breached their duties concerning the improper use of information or their duties of good faith and proper purpose as contained in the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012;

No mention is made of concerns raised about the independence of the Scheme with the Board Member in question prior to the email to JCV which they subsequently leaked;

No mention is made of the fact that the Board Member in question responded to concerns raised by providing assurances that they would not sit on the Board of JCV and Yeshivah at the same time and offered to step down from the Yeshivah Board in the interests of the Scheme.

?Finally, it is manifestly untrue to suggest that 'the content of the email only raised an issue of perceived governance concerns'. The e-mail stated: 'Some victims will not disclose their abuse to JCV while a Member of the Committee of Management of Yeshivah is on the Board. Accordingly, I can state categorically that [Director's Name] ongoing presence on the JCV Board will prevent some victims from accessing the redress they need and this is a tragedy.'

The same concerns have been raised by several victims on several occasions with JCV and have been ignored. As a consequence, victims are in fact avoiding the scheme, as has been accurately reported by The Age. And JCV is positioning itself between victims and the redress which they have finally been offered and in which they are so desperately in need.

The JCV Board needs to urgently review its approach to this matter and start acting in a manner befitting it's wonderful history before it backs itself into a corner from which it can't get out.

My message to JCV is this: Engage with victims instead of alienating them, take the only appropriate action in respect of the offending Board Member and get back to doing what you do best - supporting the most vulnerable members of the community.

The article in The Age is 100% accurate and The Age should be applauded for standing up for victims as they always have.