Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Child Abuse Negl. 2022 Jul;129:105657. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105657. Epub 2022 Apr 29.
Governments in multiple countries have established redress schemes to acknowledge institutional responsibility for child maltreatment; to provide survivors with access to compensation, counselling and apologies; and to prompt better practice to prevent child maltreatment. Establishing a National Redress Scheme was recommended by Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The Scheme commenced in 2018 and will run for a decade.
This study sought to understand the ways survivors have experienced applying for redress under the National Redress Scheme, and how Scheme processes could be improved for survivors.
Participants were 322 survivors of child sexual abuse who had applied for redress or considered doing so during the first two years of the Scheme's operation. Two thirds (68%) were aged 55 or over and over half (55%) were men.
To provide feedback about their experiences and perceptions of the National Redress Scheme, participants completed closed and open-ended survey questions.
Only a minority rated the Scheme as either good (16%) or very good (11%). Survey comments provide insight into the ways waiting has contributed to survivors' negative experiences of the Scheme. Survivors waited for the Scheme to be established, for institutions to opt-in, for decisions, and for direct personal responses. Waiting compounded uncertainty and was retraumatising for survivors. Some avoided seeking redress due to likely delays and risks of retraumatisation.
Australia's National Redress Scheme is an ambivalent policy innovation which can both facilitate support and exacerbate harm. The design of redress schemes should pre-emptively address their potential to generate harm, including by recognising that rapid responses are essential to procedural justice, and particularly important for older survivors of child sexual abuse.
多个国家的政府都建立了赔偿计划，以承认机构对虐待儿童的责任；为幸存者提供获得赔偿、咨询和道歉的机会；并促使更好的实践以防止虐待儿童。澳大利亚皇家儿童性虐待机构回应委员会建议建立国家赔偿计划。该计划于 2018 年启动，将持续十年。
本研究旨在了解幸存者在国家赔偿计划下申请赔偿的方式，以及如何为幸存者改进计划流程。
参与者是 322 名遭受过儿童性虐待的幸存者，他们在计划实施的头两年中申请了赔偿或考虑过这样做。三分之二（68%）的人年龄在 55 岁或以上，超过一半（55%）是男性。
为了提供关于他们对国家赔偿计划的经验和看法的反馈，参与者完成了封闭和开放式的调查问题。
只有少数人（16%）认为该计划是好的，只有（11%）的人认为该计划是非常好的。调查评论提供了一些关于等待如何导致幸存者对该计划的负面体验的见解。幸存者等待计划的建立、机构的加入、决策和个人的直接回应。等待加剧了不确定性，并对幸存者造成了创伤。一些人由于可能的延迟和再次遭受创伤的风险而避免寻求赔偿。
澳大利亚的国家赔偿计划是一项矛盾的政策创新，既可以促进支持，也可以加剧伤害。赔偿计划的设计应预先考虑到其产生伤害的潜力，包括认识到快速反应对程序正义至关重要，对遭受过儿童性虐待的老年幸存者尤为重要。
