High Court sides with abuse victims: controversial Catholic Church tactics rejected
As written by the founder and principal of Kelso Lawyers, Peter Kelso As a former State Ward and long-term advocate for victims of child abuse,
Australia has a serious problem with institutional abuse.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse revealed 4,000 offending institutions and tens of thousands of sexual abuse survivors throughout Australia.
A disturbing trend appeared – more than 2,500 survivors were abused in an institution managed by the Catholic Church. This includes schools and foster homes – designed to protect and nurture children, these institutions chose instead to neglect, abuse and traumatise children.
Despite the positive results of the commission, it’s estimated 60% of all child abuse survivors still remain silent.
Our Sydney & Newcastle teams are committed to fighting against institutional abuse and achieving the compensation our clients deserve. We understand the pain and emotional suffering experienced by survivors of child abuse – Peter Kelso himself experienced child abuse in foster care.
We know how hard it can be to see bad memories resurface.
But we’re here to help.
Our team has represented countless victims of child abuse throughout New South Wales including the girls of the Parramatta Girls Training School and The Hay Institution for Girls.
The New South Wales Government opened these schools to care for neglected teens and convicted juvenile offenders. The girls were beaten, humiliated and forced to work long hours washing and ironing linen for hospitals and prisons.
The girls were known as numbers, not names.
The abuse stretches back as far as the 1940s.
It is considered one of the worst instances of mass child abuse in Sydney’s history.
In 2014, Kelso Lawyers negotiated significant financial settlements for around 130 former “Parra Girls” in the aftermath of the Royal Commission.
“Throughout this whole process, I wouldn’t have handled it without the help of Kelso Lawyers. When I felt I couldn’t go on, you were there to guide me and give me strength. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. You will never be forgotten.”
– Patricia*, Parramatta Girls Home. Name changed for privacy.
As written by the founder and principal of Kelso Lawyers, Peter Kelso As a former State Ward and long-term advocate for victims of child abuse,
School should be the one place where all children feel safe. Sadly, for thousands of Australian students, this is often not the case. Students all
A recent independent inquiry into responses to child sexual abuse in Tasmanian schools found that the State spent decades protecting paedophile teachers and ignoring complaints
Thank you, Peter… Survivors like us live with the constant knowledge that religious institutions are not always what they purport to be – and they
Throughout this whole process, I wouldn’t have handled it without the help of Kelso Lawyers. When I felt I couldn’t go on, you were there
Shame, guilt and self-loathing is all I had experienced for over 30 years. Although I had made enquiries with a few different lawyers regarding the
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