Editorial
| Date | 10 April 2017 |
| Published date | 10 April 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JAP-03-2017-0005 |
| Pages | 49-52 |
| Author | Bridget Penhale,Margaret Flynn |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Vulnerable groups,Adult protection,Safeguarding,Sociology,Sociology of the family,Abuse |
Bridget Penhale and Margaret Flynn
Welcome to the second issue of 2017. Despite the relatively early point in the year when this is
being written there is already a wide range of newsworthy items to mention that have links to and
implications for the field of adult safeguarding.
There is a lot to be said for being sorry. During January, Rolls Royce apologised unreservedly for
having paid millions in bribes to middlemen, for over three decades, in order to win contracts and
secure orders in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Russia, Nigeria and China. The Serious
Fraud Office entered into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement of £497.25 m, plus interest, and the
SFO’s costs of £13 m, plus agreements with the USA and Brazil –resulting in a total of
approximately £671 m. On the upside, the investigation into the conduct of individuals continues
with the prospect of criminal prosecutions being initiated[1]. If the company does not break
the agreement it will not be prosecuted. We wonder if the controlling minds at Rolls Royce during
the relevant period will ever get around to explaining their conduct.
Meanwhile, 45 former Directors of Social Services wrote to The Guardian newspaper to express
their concerns about the underfunding of adult social care services; that is, around £4.2 bn has
been taken from local authority budgets over the last five years[2]. In the piece they note:
“Some 500,000 people are abused every year while cuts are being made in safeguarding
provision […] We don’t need further reviews and promises”.
Those of us of a certain age will remember “Kincora”–a children’s home for boys in Belfast.
The historical abuse inquiry led by Sir Anthony Hart[3] has determined that in Northern Ireland,
between 1922 and 1995, there were systemic failings in most of the 22 institutions and homes it
examined –rendering children and young people exposed to brutality, sexual assaults,
rapes –and disbelief –most particularly that of the religious orders, many of whom were
responsible for these institutions. The inquiry states that the Catholic hierarchy ignored warnings
about the serial paedophile Fr. Brendan Smyth and that at least 29 boys were sexually assaulted
at Kincora. The latter home was run by paedophiles. Three senior staff, William McGrath,
Raymond Semple and Joseph Mains were imprisoned for their offences in 1981.
Bringing victims and perpetrators together is more than a riveting experiment in restorative steps
towards justice.Remember the Rwandan genocideof 1994 in which 800,000 peoplewere killed?
The Prison Fellowship Rwanda is a non-profit organisation that identifies people and families in
need of housing, regardless of their actions in the genocide[4]. Reconciliation Villages only accept
those people who are known to have killed and who have asked for forgiveness. Some former
killers live alongside people whose familiesthey killed. It is a deeply humane means of healingafter
unimaginabletrauma –looking after livestocktogether, growing food in cooperatives and sharing a
bank account to payfor their health insurance. As villagerAloyse Mutiribambe noted: “[…]political
will helps to make things happen, but it is us, the people, who were most deeply affected, so it
must also be us who change things for the better[5]”.
Crude nationalism is here with a vengeance. As Gary Younge observed: “Trump campaigned in
graffiti –the profane scrawls of a mindless vandal –and to go by his inaugural address, may yet
govern in tweets –the impulsive, abbreviated interventions of a narcissist[6]”. Dissent, discord
and disquiet have pervaded the President’s first weeks in office. The sequelae include women’s
marches, organised activism and high levels of disbelief concerning his appointments, as well as
satire and online derision. Thank heavens for the status quo because there is welcome and
growing acknowledgement that ultimately, it will be the President’s deeds that will curtail his
value-free and incoherent ambition.
DOI 10.1108/JAP-03-2017-0005 VOL. 19 NO. 2 2017, pp. 49-52, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1466-8203
j
THE JOURNAL OF ADULT PROTECTION
j
PAG E 49
Editorial
To continue reading
Request your trial