Aubrey says ‘If a child raises an alarm, listen ... because children know right from wrong’
All names and identifying details have been changed.
Participants have given us permission to share their experiences.
Aubrey wanted to share with the Truth Project his experience of the devastating consequences of adults not listening to children.
After he reported his concerns about a teacher, it took 30 years for the man to be brought to justice.
Aubrey explains that his family had difficulties, and when he was eight years old, he was placed in a children’s home. He lived there during the week and went home at weekends.
He describes himself as a ‘bright and independent little boy’ and he was trusted to run errands and carry out tasks for the teachers.
During one such occasion, at the residence of a teacher, an incident occurred which disturbed Aubrey so much that when he returned home for the weekend, he told his parents about it.
His mother believed him at once and went to see the headmaster of the school to report what Aubrey had told them. The school held an internal investigation and concluded that nothing had happened. The teacher remained in his post but Aubrey was transferred to a different school.
The incident was not discussed any further. Aubrey says he found it hard to come to terms with the fact that his mother, from whose care he had been removed, believed without question that he was being truthful, but the people who were in charge of his welfare did not.
Thirty years later, Aubrey was contacted ‘out of the blue’ by the local police force. They informed him that they were investigating allegations of child sexual abuse against the teacher that he had reported so long ago.
A court case followed and the perpetrator was sent to prison. Aubrey attended court and was profoundly affected by hearing ‘what he did to those children virtually straight after … you think somewhere, somebody has to take a bit of responsibility’.
He expresses frustration, empathy and anger when he considers the victims who were abused because his report went unheeded, and the fact that the teacher ‘got away with it for 30 years’ before being brought to justice.
These turbulent feelings have had a damaging effect on his own life – his marriage broke down and he became estranged from his family.
Aubrey knows there was nothing more he could have done as a little boy to change what happened, and he emphasises that he himself was not sexually abused by the teacher. However he firmly believes that if his complaint had been taken seriously, there would not have been other victims and he is frustrated that no one was held accountable for this.
His disappointment with this failure to protect children has made him determined in his work as a carer never to turn a blind eye to incidents he feels are wrong.