The recent murder-suicide tragedy that unfolded in the suburbs of Perth in late July 2023 serve as a reminder of our human frailties and the devastating consequences that can result from deep seated pain and trauma. Something went terribly wrong in this story and now a young child is left orphaned. What happens to this child?
Hopefully he has a loving and supporting extended family to look after him but as so often happens, children are, for unfortunate reasons placed into the care of institutions to ensure their future safety and wellbeing. The ‘system’ is often targeted as the cause of such devastating events occurring in the community. It helps us to try and make sense of why these events occurred in the first place and we are constantly looking to shift blame elsewhere.
Chamberlains represent clients who have experienced unimaginable horrors as children abused in the care of those ‘systems’ that are supposed to protect them. Sadly, we have discovered in recent years since the ‘Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse’ that the system has let down our children.
As time goes on, we discover more revelations of widespread abuse in institutions that are there to protect our young people from harm and who are often already psychologically vulnerable. This has been highlighted at Don Dale juvenile facility in the Northern Territory and the abuses occurring here in WA at our juvenile detention facilities, such as Banksia Hill Detention Centre and other juvenile justice facilities.
There is no excuse for violence in our communities and we have the right to feel safe however we ought to keep in mind that children’s behaviour in acting out is a response to feeling unloved, unsafe, unvalued and unable to necessarily articulate their feelings and thoughts in the way that adults can.
At Chamberlains, our abuse team understands the vulnerability of our clients and the devastating impacts of abuse that often ripple through the wider community.
We help survivors of institutional child sexual abuse to seek accountability from the institutions that have failed them.
If you or your loved one has been the victim of sexual, serious physical abuse or other abuse please contact our Keziah Holdsworth, Senior Associate at Chamberlains.