Child sexual abuse in Scotland: how learning from our past can help safeguard our future

Holyrood
April 5, 2017

https://www.holyrood.com/event/child-sexual-abuse-scotland-how-learning-our-past-can-help-safeguard-our-future

By examining the current issues and the extent of child abuse in Scotland this event, chaired by Jacquie Roberts OBE, Former Chief Executive, Care Commission, subsequently the Care Inspectorate, will help delegates learn about and discuss the part we must all play in protecting our children and how we can make this a safer place for them to grow up.

Context

With the uncovering of each new scandal of historic child abuse rocking some of the institutions at the heart of our communities and society, the sheer scale of its reach has become horrifyingly clear. What remains to be seen is how we can ensure that the most vulnerable are protected, especially when with those charged with their care.

The Scottish Government is taking their role in this process seriously, having launched the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in 2015 to look at the abuse of children in care. This inquiry is one of the widest ranging inquiries ever held in Scotland.

Following successive high profile cases, victims of child abuse have had the confidence to come forward and ensure the perpetrators pay for their actions, even if that is decades later. This is now showing that the victims will be listened to by authorities and have nothing to fear in coming forward.

It is now all of our responsibility to ensure firstly that we create the checks and balances to ensure that child abuse is prevented and secondly to provide the right support to ensure children and young people who are affected are given the opportunity to lead as normal a life as possible.