Not rocket science Admit your faults, face up to them, change management if necessary, suggest a way to fix them, compensate victims.
The Royal Commission held a public hearing in Melbourne from Monday 2 February to Friday 13 February 2015. The hearing examined the response of Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi to allegations of child sexual abuse.
MELBOURNE’S Yeshivah Centre has today agreed to compensate sexual abuse victims up to $80,000 each.
“The Yeshivah Centre deeply regrets its failure to protect those who were victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by people in a position of trust within the Yeshivah Centre and its schools.”
The Orthodox Jewish centre has set up an independent panel to determine the amount of payments made to victims on a case-by-case basis, with payouts dependant on whether a victim is deemed to have suffered significant abuse ($10,000 to $20,000), severe abuse ($20,000-$50,000) or extreme abuse ($50,000-$80,000).
“The scheme has been established to ensure that these wrongs committed against children will no longer go unnoticed or unacknowledged,” Mr Belfer wrote.
He said he did not know how many victims would come forward.
"We've got trained professional social workers who'll then meet with them, assess their claim and may also assist them if they have other issues they need psychological care or support [with]," Mr Debinski said.
"Yeshiva funds the scheme, but in every other respect we've been very careful and diligent to establish it in a way that all of the contact points are independent of Yeshivah."
“Often it’s not only the sexual abuse itself that leads to trauma, but also the secondary abuse brought on by the institution’s response — the cover-ups and intimidation — which often is worse than the primary abuse,” he said.
“There’s no doubt that many of us have been traumatised and re-traumatised by Yeshivah’s actions and inactions.
“But it’s great to see the wrongs of the past are finally being recognised.”
The Yeshivah Centre will hold a community event to discuss the sexual abuse on Wednesday at 7pm.
While not perfect at least it acknowledges the abuse and is establishing a redress scheme for sexual abuse victims.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-07/melbourne-jewish-centre-offers-sexual-abuse-victims-support/7006566
