- Church of England downplayed extent of child abuse allegations to protect its reputation, report finds
- Paedophile cults, parenting and multiple personalities: A mother who’s experienced it all
- Havant sexual abuse survivor calls for more support: ‘There is life after abuse’
- Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit accusing FLDS of sexually abusing young girls under guise of religion (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)
- Dissociative Identity Disorder: What it's like to live with multiple personalities
Church of England downplayed extent of child abuse allegations to protect its reputation, report finds
Olivia Rudgard, Religious Affairs Correspondent
22 June 2018
The Church of England disregarded dozens of allegations in its inquiry into child sexual abuse and then downplayed the issue to protect its reputation, a critical report has found.
A report by former Barnardo's chief executive Sir Roger Singleton found that close to 100 cases were whittled down to just a handful for a review released in 2010.
Inconsistent and overly specific criteria reduced the number of cases they reported for the Past Cases Review, leading it to conclude after examining 40,000 files that just 13 cases of alleged child sexual abuse merited formal action.
Sir Roger, who was commissioned to complete an inquiry into the review, said he believed the Church "downplayed" the issue in public statements to avoid reputational damage.
However, he also said he found "no evidence whatsoever of a deliberate attempt to mislead" or that anyone broke the law.
"In the public statement that it issued reporting on the review, [the Church] rather failed to give a comprehensive picture of the concerns that existed," he said.
Paedophile cults, parenting and multiple personalities: A mother who’s experienced it all
By Hattie Gladwell
Friday 22 Jun 2018
Karen*, a mother-of-three in her sixties, lives with dissociative identity disorder (DID), which used to be known as ‘multiple personality disorder’.
It was triggered during her childhood by enduring extreme ritual abuse, inflicted on her by a group of paedophiles. Starting even before she could speak, she underwent emotional, physical and sexual abuse of the most horrific kinds imaginable.
This ‘cult’ Karen describes as a paedophile ring caused Karen to start to disassociate to try and cope with the horrendous pain and trauma inflicted on her as a child.
It started when she was a one-year-old and carried on until she was 16. She now says that she has ‘many parts’.
When the abuse finally stopped after her childhood, the past was ‘barricaded safely away for over 20 years’ because of her ‘alters’ or ‘parts’, the terms used for alternate identities.
DID’s symptoms mean you experience severe changes in your identity, with your psyche creating various personalities to help you cope with traumatic events.
The identity states may come across as different ages and genders, and you may feel you have one ‘main’ part of your identity that feels most like ‘you’ – which some people call the host identity.
A person living with DID may not have control over the different parts when an identity takes over and they may even suffer from amnesia which means you don’t remember what happens when another part of your identity is in control....
The emotional, sexual and physical abuse took many forms, from emotional manipulation and controlling behaviour to rape and beatings.
Karen was abused by a pseudo-cult claiming to be of Christian religion as justification. Heartbreakingly, she also suffered abuse outside of the cult, from people within her family....
Havant sexual abuse survivor calls for more support: ‘There is life after abuse’
Tamara Siddiqui Wednesday 27 June 2018
A WOMAN who endured almost 20 years of emotional, sexual and physical abuse is raising awareness about the lack of help available for survivors of such terrible ordeals.
Pauline Sharp, 55, was abused by her parents at her childhood home in Stubbington, and now lives with a number of health issues including chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)....
Pauline, who lives in Havant, said: ‘I’m a survivor of ritual abuse which started at the age of three and carried on until I was about 22. I got told I was chosen, there to serve, and I should be thankful.
‘The impact of child sexual abuse on me and all survivors is life-long.
‘Over the years I have abused my own body, because I was violated, raped, and indoctrinated for so long, told I was evil and worth nothing, so I believed it.
‘I would inflict pain on myself, self-harm and overeat, just so I could mask the pain inflicted on me. As well as chronic PTSD I have short-term memory loss caused by the trauma, anxiety, disassociation, flashbacks and nightmares.’....
After also being taken elsewhere so others could inflict abuse on her, Pauline escaped her parents’ control aged 22 for a job as a nanny in Canada.
She described using her once 24-stone weight as a disguise that kept her safe.
Pauline, who was hospitalised twice in 2007, added: ‘I only got the right help after my second breakdown and it took two years, but I’m lucky I got it because some places have it, some don’t.
‘Survivors of abuse have suffered so much as children and as adults their needs deserve to be met with specialist long-term trauma-based help.
‘Only if a survivor can access the right support can they even begin to recover.
Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit accusing FLDS of sexually abusing young girls under guise of religion By Michael Rinker July 3, 2018
ST. GEORGE — A Utah judge last week denied a defendant’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging ritualistic sex abuse of young girls by former leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints....
The lawsuit accuses high-ranking FLDS leaders of carrying out a “calculated plan” of ritualistic sex abuse involving girls as young as 8 years old.
In addition to the UEP Trust, other defendants include former FLDS President Warren Jeffs, his brothers Lyle Jeffs and Seth Jeffs, former FLDS leader Wendell Nielsen and the FLDS church.
In 2005, a Utah judge appointed a special fiduciary to take over the UEP Trust in response to accusations that Warren Jeffs and other FLDS leaders mismanaged it.
The responsibility of the special fiduciary has since been reduced, and the trust is now largely run by a court-appointed board of trustees
Since the 2005 intervention, communal property once controlled by the church in Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale has been subdivided and farms and other businesses have been claimed by the trust as taxes went unpaid. It has been overseeing distribution of the property.
As part of their FLDS beliefs, sex between underage girls and priesthood leaders took place, the lawsuit alleges. After President Rulon T. Jeffs suffered a stroke in August 1998, much of his power and authority was delegated to his son Warren Jeffs, who began a new practice involving ritualistic sexual intercourse with young girls in the FLDS temple and other FLDS properties.
“Sex with girls, ages eight to 14 years old, was initiated by Warren Jeffs,” the lawsuit alleges, “along with leadership of UEP Trust and the FLDS Church, including the Twelve Apostles of the Church engaging in and witnessing the sexual relations between Warren S. Jeffs, Lyle Jeffs, Seth Jeffs and Wendell LeRoy Nielsen and other John Does viewing, watching, taping, participating in and documenting these sexual encounters with underage girls.”....
“Warren S. Jeffs told (R.H.) that if she told anyone of these encounters, God would destroy her and her family immediately,” the lawsuit states. He also reportedly said that if she cried during the ritual, “God would punish her.”
The rituals reportedly occurred five to six times a week until R.H. turned 12. When she was 14 years old, the lawsuit alleges, she was required to witness and document other girls’ ritualistic abuse with church leaders.....
Dissociative Identity Disorder: What it's like to live with multiple personalities
By Tracey Shelton 30 Jun 2018
Ms Tulloch has dissociative identity disorder (DID), also known as multiple personality disorder. She has more than 100 "parts", each with their own ages, abilities, likes and characteristics.
Psychological studies and accounts of multiplicity have been around for centuries, and DID has been included in the official psychiatry manual since 1980. But it still remains controversial.
In almost every studied case, the cause can be traced back to extreme and ongoing trauma during childhood. For Ms Tulloch, it was repeated sexual abuse perpetrated by neighbours that began when she was three years old.
Psychiatrist Dr Warwick Middleton, one of Australia's leading experts in dissociative disorders, describes it as "compartmentalisation" or a complex coping system that develops in a young mind unable to deal with the abuse inflicted on them by those they depend on for survival.
In her definitive book Trauma and Recovery, Judith Herman said the only weapon of survival for a child trapped in an abusive environment are "psychological defences" and this forces the development of "extraordinary capacities, both creative and destructive".
"Repeated trauma in adult life erodes the structure of the personality already formed," she writes, "but repeated trauma in childhood forms and deforms the personality."....
On the outside, her family were devout Baptist Christians, but behind the scenes her memories include ritual abuse by groups of adults, and horrific sexual "punishments" at home, mostly at the hands of her grandfather, for crimes as small as "touching my grandmother's special china plates".
The abuse resulted in numerous medical issues that never seemed to raise an eyebrow at the doctor's clinic.
