'Finally someone believes us': £100k hope for Scottish child abuse survivors after Holyrood recommendation

A woman who suffered “horrendous” historic child abuse says she is hopeful for the future after a decision by a Holyrood committee.

Up until now, the Fornethy Survivors have not been able to access the Redress Scotland scheme, which offers up to £100,000 compensation for those abused in residential care, because they were only in short-term respite care.

However, a Holyrood committee has now told the Scottish Government it must overturn this ruling as it has “created an unjustified barrier”.

More than 200 women make up the Fornethy Survivors. They have all come forward with allegations of abuse while staying at Fornethy House, a residential school in Angus, between the 1960s and 1990s.

Thousands of young girls from disadvantaged backgrounds in Glasgow were sent to Fornethy House for short-term respite care by the city council, then known as the Glasgow Corporation.

Lynne Sheerin, who was one of the girls, said her stay at Fornethy in 1975 when she was just eight years old was “absolute torture”.

Ms Sheerin, 56, said: “It was horrendous. When I got off the bus, I said ‘I want my mum’ and was told ‘there is no mum for the next six weeks’.

Lynne Sheerin. | supplied

“That terrified me to hear that from another adult. I thought I was never going to see my mum again. Inside it was very regimental. We were force fed and if any of us were sick we were forced to eat that too.

“Only certain girls were allowed to go to the tuck shop. We had to write letters to our parents and if we didn’t write what was on the blackboard, we were beaten and not allowed to send our letters.”

She said any children who wet the bed were “thrown in the bath two at a time”, and many had their legs rubbed “red raw” after being forced to walk for miles in ill-fitting boots.

However, Ms Sheerin claimed the abuse did not stop at just the mental and physical.

“The staff had parties at night time and these men were at the parties,” she said. “That was when the wee girls were taken out of their beds, and obviously you can imagine what happened after that.

“We think we were drugged at night time in our milk because we have very few memories of going to bed or knowing how we got there. So there was a lot of sexual abuse in it as well as physical and mental abuse - it was absolute torture.”

The group of survivors had been petitioning the Scottish Government to widen the access to their redress scheme for survivors of historic child abuse.

Former deputy first minister Shona Robison told the group earlier this year they were not able to access the Redress Scotland scheme because the abuse happened while in short-term respite care, and the scheme was only for those who suffered abuse whilst in long-term residential accommodation.

However, Holyrood’s citizen participation and public petitions committee has now written to Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, saying the Government needs to widen this scheme to include the Fornethy Survivors.

In the letter, convener Jackson Carlaw says “individuals who experienced abuse in state-run institutions should be eligible for redress, regardless of the duration of their stay or parental consent for placement”.

The committee adds this recommendation is “based on the understanding that children at Fornethy House had limited or no contact with their parents and relied on the institution for their daily care”.

Lynne Sheerin is pictured third from the right out protesting outside Holyrood alongside other Fornethy Survivors. Image: Lisa Ferguson/National World. | Lisa Ferguson/National World

The letter also adds the Glasgow Corporation, which managed Fornethy House, “had a significant role in the welfare of these children”, and as a public institution should be included in the redress scheme.

Ms Robison also said the Fornethy Survivors could not access financial redress as many records had been destroyed, making it unlikely any of the survivors would be able to provide the evidence needed.

The Holyrood committee now said it “challenges the view that the absence of records should prevent survivors from seeking redress”, as the scheme “operates on a presumption of truth”.

At the time, Ms Robison said: “You can’t get beyond the fact that you will be looking at thousands and thousands and thousands of people who had a few weeks at a potential institution who … were placed in Fornethy, but many other institutions who would not have the evidential requirements to come in front of a scheme.

“That would raise expectations for thousands of people when they would not be able to bring evidence in front of the scheme, and I’m afraid we can’t get beyond that those records don’t exist.”

Ms Sheerin, who lives in Glasgow, said the group had new hope for the future on the back of the letter to Ms Forbes.

She said: “It is absolutely brilliant, just amazing. We cannot thank those who have helped us enough for standing up for us. For some women, this is the only thing open to them because they are getting older or they are ill.

Lynne Sheerin as a child. | supplied

“This would have a big impact on us. We were told short-term care doesn’t qualify, but abuse is abuse, whether it’s six minutes, six days, six weeks or six years.

“We were abused and we should be taken into consideration. It is the recognition as well - it is hard to explain, but finally someone believes us and recognises we were abused.

“We were told this was a holiday and we were going to have a great time, but it was a hellhole - no one left that building without being abused.”

Marion Reid went to Fornethy House for six weeks with her older sister back in 1965.

She said: “I am over the moon - it is so good to finally get to this point after all these years and finally have people listening to us. Once you went in and the doors were closed, that was it.

“The girls were made to strip off and we were all force fed and when we vomited it back up we were told to put it back in our mouths. The more you cried the more you got beaten. I have memories of being somewhere at bedtime, but I think we were sedated, so after that I don’t know what happened.”

The committee also said while the recommendations may require further legislation, ministers should “not to delay taking action”.

Ms Forbes said: “Abuse of children at Fornethy House should never have happened and I am profoundly sorry for what the survivors endured as children and the impact this abuse has had on their lives.

“The independent report we commissioned to investigate this matter further is clear that children attended Fornethy House primarily on a short-term basis for convalescence or a recuperative holiday under arrangements involving their parent or guardian and another person. Those circumstances, as agreed by the Scottish Parliament, are excluded from the redress scheme which is designed primarily to provide acknowledgement of the harm that has been caused for survivors of historical child abuse who were in long-term care.

“These findings are in no way intended to diminish the experiences of the survivors or to suggest parents of these children were in any way responsible for the experiences they endured during their time at Fornethy House.”