Isle of Man/Mannin - Call for retrospective child care audit

The Celtic League has asked the Isle of Man Chief Minister, Tony Brown
MHK, what steps have been taken to facilitate a retrospective child-care
audit for young people who were in care 30-50 years ago.

The League point out that the current child abuse scandal in Jersey
is just the latest of a series over the past decades which exposed
deficiencies in child-care regulation in England, Wales, Scotland
and Northern Ireland.

The League believe that the Isle of Man cannot presume that its regulatory
regimes were any better than those in place in adjacent jurisdictions
(Correspondence to Chief Minister below):


"Dear Chief Minister

A sad feature of the ongoing child-care enquiry in Jersey is that
young people who had been subject to abuse and ill-treatment felt
unable to contact authorities or speak out for many years. This scenario
replicates experiences already documented of successive child abuse
scandals in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which have
come to light over the last two decades.

Given the revelations in adjacent jurisdictions and now in the Channel
Islands has the Isle of Man government taken any steps to facilitate
a confidential conduit of communication for children who were in care
in the Isle of Man, particularly in the distant past (i.e. thirty,
forty or even fifty years ago) so that they can air any concerns or
reservations that they have about their treatment.

I am sure you will agree that regulatory regimes in all the jurisdictions
cited above were found to have been wanting 30-40 years ago and therefore
it would be prudent for authorities here to double-check that the
systems that the Isle of Man had in place shared no such deficiencies."


An initial step that government could take is to place prominent notices
with the Island media assuring that anyone with concerns can discuss
issues confidentially.

J B Moffatt
Director of Information
Celtic League

24/05/08


The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It works
to promote cooperation between these countries and campaigns on a
broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights
human rights abuse, monitors all military activity and focuses on
socio-economic issues.

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Internet site at:

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