Quarriers report: give abuse victims a voice

The report, commissioned by the Scottish Government, said that the forum should also allow children currently in residential care to speak out anonymously, to help protect them from abuse.

Ministers were asked to back the move after the report focused on the experiences of former residents of the Quarriers care homes between the 1930s and 1980s, as part of a pilot scheme.

The "Time to be Heard" pilot included confidential hearings with 98 former residents of care provider Quarriers, ranging in age from 38 to 83, with 69 per cent of the participants from Scotland.

Nearly half of those who took part in the pilot forum had spent ten or more years in Quarriers homes, with survivors identifying issues such as excessive punishment, emotional abuse, lack of affection, a lack of respect and no support for those leaving care.

Tom Shaw, a former chief inspector of education in Northern Ireland, who chaired the Quarriers abuse probe, said the pilot had been a way of "testing" whether there was a need for a forum for all those who had been in residential care.

Mr Shaw went on to call for a forum that would allow all abuse victims to speak out, to be rolled out "as soon as possible" by the Scottish Government.

• Testimony 1: The abuse handed out was just beyond belief

• Testimony 2: This needs dealt with and not swept under the carpet

• Testimony 3: Someone tried to kill me after gang-rape

He said: "We need to ensure that there is independent advocacy. A terrible reflection from the past is that children were punished for complaining in homes.

"Participants have been overwhelmingly positive about their experience of 'Time to be Heard'.

"They spoke of the effect on their self-respect, self-confidence and progress towards closure. For many, the most important benefit was simply feeling that their experiences have been acknowledged."

The publication of the report involving former Quarriers home residents comes after Scottish ministers called for a "truth and reconciliation" approach to survivors of care home abuse three years ago.

The new report identifies three underlying themes in the care provided: poor communication, lack of respect and inadequate preparation for leaving care.Sections on physical assault, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and leaving care illustrate these themes through participants' experiences.

Scottish Government ministers will now be handed the report of the pilot, which was restricted to Quarriers on the basis that the organisation still has good contact with former residents.

Scotland's public health minister Shona Robison said: "It is very encouraging that this report recognises how valuable the 'Time to be Heard' pilot forum was in providing an opportunity to test how the experiences of survivors could be recorded in future.

"We were always clear that this pilot forum was just that - a pilot. That was why it dealt solely with survivors from one institution, and why the chance to take part was offered to a limited number of people.

"We are now keen to take forward a national confidential forum that would involve survivors from many more institutions around Scotland, and will consider the recommendations of the report very carefully."