Tag Archives: institutional abuse

March 17, 2024 · 1:00 am

Abuse at Elite British Boarding Schools

Charles Spencer departs for his first day at Maidwell Hall.

Charles Spencer leaves for Maidwell Hall, Photo courtesy of Charles Spencer by way NBC News

Princess Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, has written an expose about the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse he endured at Maidwell Hall in the 1970s [1].  Titled A Very Private School, the book exposes the grim realities at one elite boarding school.

Clearly though this is not an isolated problem.

A Widespread Problem

“How I hated schools, and what a life of anxiety I lived there.  I counted the hours to the end of every term, when I should return home.”

–Winston Churchill [2]

A 2018 documentary “Boarding Schools: The Secret Shame” disclosed 31 separate investigations into alleged sexual assault at British boarding schools [3].  The suspicion is that there are many more such instances under investigation.

While it is a legal requirement for schools to report abuse, there is no assurance of compliance.  Because records are decentralized, even Britain’s Dept. for Education may not be aware how many schools are failing to meet standards [7]. Continue reading →

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Filed under Abuse of Power, Child Abuse, Child Molestation, Emotional Abuse, Justice, Law, Neglect, Physical Abuse, Rape, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Assault

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October 15, 2023 · 1:00 am

Murdered Children and the Indian Child Welfare Act

File:Carlisle pupils.jpg

Pupils at Carlisle Native Industrial School, Pennsylvania (PD)

WARNING:  Graphic Images

From 1869 to the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of Native American children were removed from their parents and placed at boarding schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs [1][2].

There the children were forbidden to use their tribal names, speak their tribal languages, wear their tribal clothing, or practice their tribal religions.  Discipline was generally harsh.  Emotional, physical, and sexual abuse were not unknown.

Though perhaps well intentioned, this cultural genocide (now termed ethnocide) was inexcusable [3][4A].  The trauma to these children was incalculable [4B].

Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was created as a reaction to such forced assimilation [5][6A][9A].  The purpose of the ICWA was to protect the cultural identity and heritage of Indian tribes [9B].

The ICWA mandates that the state pursue the best interests of the tribe, rather than that of the individual child, in cases of abuse.  Officials must place an abused or neglected child with race-matched foster and adoptive families [6B].

Published guidelines by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in fact, indicate that child welfare officials should not consider the best interests of the child in placement – irrespective of poverty, substance abuse, or other “non-conforming social behavior” such as crime in the home [9C].

For any child living on a reservation, the tribe has exclusive jurisdiction of child welfare cases [9D]. Continue reading →

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Filed under Child Abuse, Child Molestation, Community, Emotional Abuse, Justice, Law, Neglect, Physical Abuse, Poverty, Sexual Abuse

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