As it embarks on its annual fundraising weekend, one of the country’s oldest charities is facing a crisis over claims of child sexual abuse. The Salvation Army has at least one known paedophile in its ranks and allegations of at least one other.
Up to 300* victims of sexual abuse have filed or re-filed claims against the Salvation Army, according to sources within the organisation.
The Salvation Army’s approach to dealing with compensation for victims came under intense scrutiny at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse, where it was revealed that some victims were forced to sign confidentiality agreements in order to receive payments.
Major Cliff Randall, a Salvation Army officer who reported abuse in the 1970s while working at a boys’ home, told Background Briefing that the compensation process has been ad hoc.
‘New claims from people who have now felt they can come forward, or from people who have complained in the past, but now that the commission has come up and the army have said that a lot of them weren’t given the proper compensation way back, they can reapply and get a better deal,’ he said. ‘Why wasn’t it done in the first place?’
According to Major Randall, his wife Marina is the only Salvation Army officer currently handling victim interviews. Now, just weeks after the Salvation Army’s last appearance at the Royal Commission, it has lost its two trained investigators, leaving it with no professional capacity to investigate claims.
One investigator is on indefinite stress leave, and the other had his contract discontinued by the Salvation Army before he could finish the cases he was investigating.
Those unfinished cases included an internal inquiry into a current Salvation Army major in his eighties who is alleged to have sexually abused two young women and a child, and a probe into the organisation’s handling of Major Colin Haggar, a known child sex abuser who was allowed to stay in the army.
One of his victims, a witness known as JI, wasn’t prepared to appear at the public Royal Commission hearings but told Background Briefing she was abused three times by Major Haggar.
‘I was sexually abused when I was eight,’ she said. ‘I remember freezing ... they say it’s just like shock, you just go into shock and meltdown.’
‘The occasions were kind of like climbing stairs. The first one was minor, the second was a little bit more severe and the third one was the worst. That’s why I remember three different occasions. Because once they’d happened I left the room straight away.’
JI doesn’t remember primary school and didn’t finish high school.
Major Haggar was dismissed by the Salvation Army for three years, but was still provided with a job and accommodation. That should teach him! Good Grief!
In 1993 he was re-accepted as a captain and rose through the ranks, obtaining a Working With Children check with the army’s support. Last year he was the assistant director of a Salvation Army women’s and children’s shelter.
For Major Cliff Randall, the revelations about the army’s handling of child sex abuse have been too much. The chaplain will not be door knocking for the Red Shield Appeal this year.
‘As far as the Red Shield is concerned, I’m taking a backwards step this year,’ he said. ‘I just don’t feel I can face up to going doorknocking. Unfortunately I have lost a lot of faith in the leadership. At the moment the leadership have got to prove to me that yes they’re prepared to stand up and be counted.’
The Salvation Army stresses that none of the money donated to the Red Shield Appeal goes to compensate victims abused by Salvation Army officers, but after two months has not provided documents to Background Briefing to support that claim.
*Editor's note: Background Briefing has since learned that the figure of ‘up to 300’ should refer to the total number of ‘live’ complaints lodged with the Salvation Army since mid last year. Sources within the Salvation Army have confirmed that the number of complaints lodged since the first Royal Commission hearings began is around 140. The Salvation Army disputes this, saying the number of complaints lodged since the first Royal Commission hearings in January is 29.
Up to 300* victims of sexual abuse have filed or re-filed claims against the Salvation Army, according to sources within the organisation.
Major Cliff Randall, a Salvation Army officer who reported abuse in the 1970s while working at a boys’ home, told Background Briefing that the compensation process has been ad hoc.
‘New claims from people who have now felt they can come forward, or from people who have complained in the past, but now that the commission has come up and the army have said that a lot of them weren’t given the proper compensation way back, they can reapply and get a better deal,’ he said. ‘Why wasn’t it done in the first place?’
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| Majors Marina and Cliff Randall |
One investigator is on indefinite stress leave, and the other had his contract discontinued by the Salvation Army before he could finish the cases he was investigating.
Those unfinished cases included an internal inquiry into a current Salvation Army major in his eighties who is alleged to have sexually abused two young women and a child, and a probe into the organisation’s handling of Major Colin Haggar, a known child sex abuser who was allowed to stay in the army.
One of his victims, a witness known as JI, wasn’t prepared to appear at the public Royal Commission hearings but told Background Briefing she was abused three times by Major Haggar.
‘I was sexually abused when I was eight,’ she said. ‘I remember freezing ... they say it’s just like shock, you just go into shock and meltdown.’
 |
| Maj Haggar |
‘The occasions were kind of like climbing stairs. The first one was minor, the second was a little bit more severe and the third one was the worst. That’s why I remember three different occasions. Because once they’d happened I left the room straight away.’
JI doesn’t remember primary school and didn’t finish high school.
Major Haggar was dismissed by the Salvation Army for three years, but was still provided with a job and accommodation. That should teach him! Good Grief!
In 1993 he was re-accepted as a captain and rose through the ranks, obtaining a Working With Children check with the army’s support. Last year he was the assistant director of a Salvation Army women’s and children’s shelter.
For Major Cliff Randall, the revelations about the army’s handling of child sex abuse have been too much. The chaplain will not be door knocking for the Red Shield Appeal this year.
‘As far as the Red Shield is concerned, I’m taking a backwards step this year,’ he said. ‘I just don’t feel I can face up to going doorknocking. Unfortunately I have lost a lot of faith in the leadership. At the moment the leadership have got to prove to me that yes they’re prepared to stand up and be counted.’ The Salvation Army stresses that none of the money donated to the Red Shield Appeal goes to compensate victims abused by Salvation Army officers, but after two months has not provided documents to Background Briefing to support that claim.
*Editor's note: Background Briefing has since learned that the figure of ‘up to 300’ should refer to the total number of ‘live’ complaints lodged with the Salvation Army since mid last year. Sources within the Salvation Army have confirmed that the number of complaints lodged since the first Royal Commission hearings began is around 140. The Salvation Army disputes this, saying the number of complaints lodged since the first Royal Commission hearings in January is 29.
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