Dr Cathy Kezelman, ASCA president, said: “The long-term social, health and personal impacts of childhood abuse and trauma are far-reaching and numerous. And they have significant economic implications as well. Opening up public discussion about this complex issue is an important step towards healing, both for individuals as well as communities.”
“The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has put the issue of child abuse on the national agenda and will hopefully bring perpetrators and their protectors to justice – but the deep emotional, physical and psychological wounds experienced by so many adult survivors cannot be remedied by legal action alone,” she said.
What can be done?
An ecumenical service of lament, attended by NSW Attorney General Greg Smith, City of Sydney Councillor Irene Doutney and representatives from Anglican, Baptist, Catholic and Uniting churches, was held on November 2 at the Pitt Street Uniting Church. One of the organisers, Heather Robinson, said: “A lot of thought was put into the preparation so that those attending would be in a safe, supportive place. And we achieved this. The feedback was really positive. In the service we named the anger, grief and pain, called out to God for help, listened to voices of those who have been abused, had time for reflection, prayed specific prayers of intercession and named our hopes.”
The Rev. Elenie Poulos, director of the Uniting Church National Assembly’s justice agency, was guest preacher at the South Sydney Uniting Church on November 3. She said: “This is the first Blue Knot Day since the start of the Royal Commission on Institutional Child Abuse. On Blue Knot Day, we remember and stand with those who have suffered so much at the hands of others – physical and sexual abuse, shocking trauma (emotional and physical), and the gravest betrayals by individuals and institutions – and we are called to hear their cries. We hear the cries of the long and agonising wait for justice and peace: maybe for some it is partly a wait … in the presence of a seemingly absent and slow-moving, morally dubious God; maybe for many it is a seemingly endless and pain-ridden wait in the presence of institutions whose failures were so grave because their betrayal was so great; and maybe it is the isolating wait in the face of a society that just does not want to know.”
Rev. Poulos continued: “When the Royal Commission was announced, I saw in the faces of the survivors who publicly responded so many powerful and deep emotions, but relief and hope were among the most recognisable. Through this Commission, the institutions that had betrayed trust in such uncaring and even brutal ways, would have to hear, unequivocally and in public, of their failings. The individuals who had perpetrated abuse would be known. And most importantly, as survivors, they will be able to tell their story, confident that it will be heard …”
These events were two of many held around the country in solidarity with victims, in protest against willful ignorance and cover-ups, and in support of healing and recovery.
Peter Lloyd of Redfern, this year’s winner of ASCA’s Untangle the Knot Photo Competition, said: “The issue of child abuse has always concerned me. Although I have been fortunate enough not to have personal experience, I have been emotionally involved with enough people in my lifetime to understand the damage that it does. I heard of the Untangle the Knot Photo Competition from a family friend who, in her early 50s, is still battling with the consequences of childhood abuse. I have never entered a photo competition before – it was at her suggestion that I entered this one. I wanted to portray hope, to present a positive, rather than a lot of the negative spin we see today. The idea of a seedling prospering in a harsh and desolate environment appealed to me, so I incorporated a blue knot into the image. The photo was taken during the recent school holidays at Tuncurry (Nine Mile) Beach. I think it portrays what ASCA is all about.”
