Andrew Kendrick
University of Strathclyde
Andrew Kendrick joined the University of Strathclyde in 2001 as Professorof Residential Child Care with the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care. He has carried out a wide range of research on children in care and child protection, and historic abuse. He has also been involved in a number of government inquiries and reviews of safeguarding children in care. He is currently engaged in a number of projects related to the historic abuse of children in care. Andrew was Head of the School of Social Work between 2006 and 2015. He is on the Strategic Boards of Centre of Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland (CELCIS) and the Centre of Youth and Criminal Justice (CYCJ), and the Leadership Team of the Institute of Inspiring Children’s Futures.
In 2004, an apology was made on behalf of the people of Scotland for the historic abuse suffered by adults who had experienced care as children. In order to provide a comprehensive approach to these issues, the Scottish Human... [ view full abstract ]
In 2004, an apology was made on behalf of the people of Scotland for the historic abuse suffered by adults who had experienced care as children. In order to provide a comprehensive approach to these issues, the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) proposed an InterAction, a facilitated dialogue involving key stakeholders; survivors of historic abuse, service providers, Scottish Government and academics. The purpose of the InterAction was to agree an Action Plan to implement a human rights framework for justice for survivors.
The Centre of Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland (CELCIS) facilitated the two year programme of events for the InterAction. In December 2014, the Scottish Government made clear commitments to take forward the Action Plan, including a National Inquiry, a Survivor Support Fund, work on memorial and commemoration, an Apology Law, and work on civil and criminal justice.
This paper will present an evaluation of the InterAction which involved:
- documentary analysis of a range of InterAction documents;
- semi-structured interviews with key individuals in the InterAction process; and.
- an online questionnaire for a wider group of InterAction participants.
Participants were largely positive about the process and outcomes of the InterAction. There were clear tensions throughout the process, and these impacted on the engagement of some participants. A significant amount of preparation was needed to introduce the InterAction and to enable stakeholders to engage fully with the process.
The InterAction on Historic Abuse of Children in Care, a facilitated dialogue involving key stakeholders, has shown that a participatory approach based on a human rights framework can produce positive outcomes even when addressing contentious and sensitive issues. It is to be hoped that the learning from this process can inform the development of policy and practice, and take forward justice for survivors of historic abuse.
