The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse examined the Uniting Church in Australia through two separate case studies, distinct from the Commission's Catholic Church and Jehovah's Witnesses findings already recorded on this axis. Case Study 23, in 2015, inquired into Knox Grammar School, a school under the Uniting Church's ultimate governance: 12 former students and their parents gave evidence of abuse they suffered there, and five former teachers were later convicted of child sex offences against students. Case Study 56, the Commission's national institutional review of the Church's own child-protection policies, examined data the Church itself submitted: an original figure of 2,504 allegations was revised down, after the Commission asked all six synods to reanalyse and reclassify it, to 430 confirmed allegations of child sexual abuse made to the Church from its formation on 22 June 1977 to 3 March 2017. Of those 430 allegations, 102 led to formal redress claims or civil litigation, and 83 claimants received settlements totalling 12.35 million dollars. No individual accused or victim is named on this record.
Facts
Documented Findings
Allegations DocumentedSourced to the subject's own accountThe Church's original submission to the Commission was 2,504 allegations or incidents; after the Commission requested all six synods reanalyse and reclassify the underlying data, distinguishing allegations from inquiries, complaints and findings, the confirmed figure was revised down to 430. Both figures are on the record; variance named rather than picked. Victim EstimateSourced to the subject's own accountThe number of claimants who actually received settlements, distinct from and smaller than the Commission's 430 confirmed allegations or the 102 formal redress claims filed. Key FindingSourced to the subject's own accountAt Knox Grammar School, the companion case study heard that a former headmaster told the Commission he had been aware of only one instance of abuse across his 29 years in the role, testimony the Commission found was clearly incorrect given the number of teachers later convicted, an institutional-denial pattern echoing findings against other denominations on this axis. 2 Key FindingSourced to the subject's own accountOf the 430 confirmed allegations, 102 led to formal redress claims or civil litigation and 83 claimants received settlements totalling 12.35 million dollars nationally, figures the Church itself reported following the Commission's hearing. 1 Inquiry Profile
Kind of RecordSourced to the subject's own account JurisdictionSourced to the subject's own account Commissioned BySourced to the subject's own accountCommonwealth of Australia (Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse) 1 Publication YearSourced to the subject's own accountYear of Case Study 56, the national institutional review and its revised figures; the companion Knox Grammar School inquiry, Case Study 23, took its evidence in 2015. Period Covered, FromSourced to the subject's own account22 June 1977, the Uniting Church in Australia's own founding date by union of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches, the start of the period the Commission's 430-allegation figure covers. Period Covered, ToSourced to the subject's own account Cross-Tradition Connections
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