The North’s residential care homes were reminiscent of “a bygone age” that had not moved with the times, an inquiry into historical abuse in Co Down has heard.
Senior counsel for the inquiry Christine Smith QC told the second day of public hearings: "The evidence suggests that those homes operated as outdated survivors of a bygone age."
Reforms aligned with the introduction of the welfare state in Britain after the second World War were not fully implemented, she said.
She illustrated this by referring to one unnamed witness who has given details to the inquiry of her treatment at the hands of residential home workers following bed-wetting incidents. This witness said that, as a child, she had had her nose rubbed in the wet mattress and forced to take a cold baths using Jeyes Fluid, Ms Smith told the inquiry.
The senior counsel had been outlining the historical and legislative background to childcare during the years 1922 to 1995, the years under examination by the inquiry under its terms of reference.
Historical environment
During the final day of her opening submission to the inquiry, Ms Smith detailed the historical and legal environment in which 13 residential care institutions under examination by the inquiry evolved.
The inquiry “will be a lengthy and at times difficult process”, Ms Smith warned. She went on to pose a range of questions that she said went to the heart of the inquiry’s task.
The issue is whether the facts point to systems failure in institutions responsible for the care of vulnerable children, she said.
“What was known, by whom, when and what was done about it?” she asked. “What steps were taken to avoid repetition, were police involved and, if not, why not?”
She said the inquiry needed to establish what abuse, if any, took place in homes. Future hearings would examine what abuse was alleged and how complaints were addressed at institutional and governmental level.
Accommodation provision for children would be examined. Questions would be asked if such facilities were adequate and kept in repair, and whether siblings were allowed to stay together.
She said funding arrangements would be investigated and how, if at all, state and voluntary institutions differed in their funding arrangements. It was important to examine how much reliance there was on charitable donations and whether there was any difference to per capita payments by the state and other institutions.
Background checks
Staffing levels, the adequacy of training, vetting and background checks would all come within the remit of the inquiry.
Issues relating to healthcare, illness and injury care would also arise, she said, as would the levels of health qualification among staff charged with looking after children.