The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has been the subject of much media scrutiny since its announcement in July 2014. It is the largest inquiry of its kind, charged with investigating whether public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales. This includes schools, churches, extracurricular clubs, care homes, hospitals, council care; the enquiry will also look into allegations against MPs and people in the entertainment industry.
With the recent resignation of the third chair, Dame Lowell Goddard, many have voiced doubts about whether the inquiry will ever be able to achieve what it set out to do. I understand this view, but I do not share it. The inquiry has spent over a year putting in place robust infrastructures to enable it to begin its task, and I have every confidence it can and will achieve its aims.
Its remit is huge but necessary. The question, of course, should not be why is IICSA so big- but how we came to a point where child abuse is such a problem in the very institutions designed to protect and develop children’s welfare.
What this criticism does reveal is that we need to be clearer with the public about the reason that the IICSA exists at all - namely, the extent and effects of child abuse in the UK today. In a recent survey of adults by the Office for National Statistics 3% of men and 11% of women said they had experienced sexual abuse during childhood. It is vital that there is an investigation into the widespread human rights abuses committed against children, and a change of personnel will not hamper this.
It is also important that we as a society acknowledge that the effects of child sexual abuse continue into adulthood. The Adverse Childhood Experiences study found that those who suffer abuse are four and a half times more likely to get depression, three times more likely to get cancer or heart disease and 12 times more likely to adopt high risk behaviours, such as substance misuse, than their non-abused peers. In 2015, in recognition of such facts, our government named child sexual abuse as the third biggest threat to public health. We need to fully investigate the institutional failures that have led to such a high rate of child sexual abuse, and understand how we can help survivors and prevent it happening in future. A statutory independent inquiry into child abuse should not be debated as an option - it should be acknowledged as a necessity, and given whatever resources it needs to do its work.
IICSA understands that it takes courage for survivors to give evidence. It understands the enormity of the task ahead and that all recommendations it makes must be based on evidence gained through a secure and ethical methodology. It knows that some institutions may not provide all the evidence needed - not necessarily deliberately, but because recognising damage is not ingrained in their working culture. As such it is a statutory inquiry with legal powers to compel evidence, if it believes it is being held back. Setting this up takes time and costs money. And it is right that it does.
For those who have waited decades for results, patience is understandably wearing thin - but we must find more and let the inquiry do its work. This inquiry is bigger than any one chair, or famous alleged perpetrator; it is bigger than any single instance of abuse. It will have a positive impact on all of us – and it has the opportunity to help people now and in future generations lead happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives. There is surely no greater priority than that, and I am proud to be part of a society that is finally facing such a painful subject head on.
Lucy Duckworth is a consultant for improving services for child and adult survivors of abuse. She is a member of the Victims and Survivors Consultative panel, an independent consultation body to IICSA.
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Guest post: "The child sexual abuse inquiry isn't optional - it's a necessity"
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