LONDON — A report published Wednesday examining the sexual abuse crisis that has shaken the British Broadcasting Corporation strongly criticized the editorial and management decisions that led to the cancellation of a broadcast last year that would have exposed decades of sexual abuse, some of it on BBC premises, by Jimmy Savile, a network fixture who had been one of Britain’s best-known television personalities. The 200-page report by Nick Pollard, a former head of the Sky News channel who began his broadcast career as a BBC reporter, traced in detail what it described as “a chain of …
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Excerpted from the MD Mama blog on Boston.com.In the wake of the news that a known sexual offender raped and molested children for years, many of them in a day care north of Boston, it’s hard not to be scared as a parent. You can’t help thinking: Could this happen to my child?It certainly brings home the fact that if your child is in day care you should be asking lots of questions — not just when you choose the day care, but on a regular basis. You should be sure that the day care is licensed; the Department of Early Education and Childcare has an online database and you can also call if you…
PORTLAND, Maine — An investigation by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has substantiated an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor brought against a Catholic brother who served at an Aroostook County parish in the early 1970s.In a statement issued Saturday morning, the diocese said evidence was found to back up a claim by a Maine man who said Brother Paul L. Gauvin , now 73, sexually abused him in the early 1970s when he was an altar server at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Madawaska. Gauvin was the director of religious education at the parish at the time, according to Dave Guthro…
The judge in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy case dismissed two sex abuse claims on Thursday, the latest in a string of victories for the archdiocese, and is expected to rule on four others early next year.Abuse victims and their attorneys blasted the latest efforts by the archdiocese to throw out claims as “wrong, legally and morally.””It’s totally contrary to everything Archbishop Listecki said he would do,” said attorney Jeffrey Anderson, a reference to Jerome Listecki’s comments when the bankruptcy was filed in January 2011 that victims would be compensated fairly.Archdiocese…
LOS ANGELES — A California appellate court has upheld a Santa Barbara judge’s order saying the Boy Scouts of America must surrender decades of confidential files detailing alleged child sex abuse.A lawsuit alleges that a local Scouts official tried to keep a boy’s mother from reporting his 2007 abuse by a volunteer leader to police.The youth group denies the allegations.”The BSA believes confidentiality of the files helps to encourage prompt reporting,” spokesman Deron Smith told the Times.Lawyers for the former Scout who was sexually abused by a volunteer leader in 2007 say the files they se…
Authorities busted a Long Island Boys Scouts leader Wednesday on charges of trafficking in vile child pornography online.Nassau County investigators arrested Edward Orenchuk III at his Garden City home after finding hundreds of images on his computer depicting children as young as 5, authorities said.They said Orenchuk, 23, is a Boy Scouts of America Troop #243 assistant scout master and works as a page at the Garden City Public Library.”This defendant’s regular contact with children in a position of authority makes these charges that much more disturbing,” said Nassau District Attorney…
A Maui man is suing the Roman Catholic Church in Hawaii and the religious order that runs Damien Memorial School on Oahu, under a new state law providing a two-year window for child sexual abuse victims to file civil actions, no matter how long ago the abuse occurred in Hawaii.The man, referred to as John Roe No. 5 to protect his privacy, was 14 or 15 years old, after entering Damien as a freshman in 1986, when the sexual abuse began, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in 1st Circuit Court on Oahu.The lawsuit identifies his abuser as Brother John Paul Medvit, who was a teacher at Damien…
A new state law is providing a two-year window for victims of child sexual abuse to sue for damages, no matter how long ago the abuses occurred in Hawaii.And some attorneys say such lawsuits could not only expose offenders, but also encourage other victims to come forward with claims that might lead to criminal prosecution.”It’s historic in terms of public policy,” said Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul, Minn.-based attorney who has represented victims of sexual abuse across the country. “It’s one of the most important public policy developments that can be made in this state and in this country…
Every year Minnesota’s child protection staff screen in approximately
18,000 reports of child maltreatment for review. Nearly 70% of these
are assigned to the state’s voluntary Family Assessment program. Though
the purpose of the program is to promote family stability and child
safety, recent data indicates that few families receive any services.Family
Assessment has been in place in Minnesota for 10 years. It’s the
state’s name for a national trend in child protection practices called
‘Differential Response.’ These programs offer families the opportunity
to work voluntarily…
Washington (CNN) — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and European Union Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom will launch a new effort to fight child sexual abuse at a ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday.”The initiative aims to unite decision-makers all around the world to better identify and assist victims and to prosecute the perpetrators,” the Justice Department said in a press release.The initiative will be called the Global Alliance against Child Sexual Abuse Online.Participating nations pledge to pursue several goals, including enhancing efforts to investigate…