@article{ref1,
title="Waiting for redress: child sexual abuse survivors' experiences of Australia's National Redress Scheme",
journal="Child abuse and neglect",
year="2022",
author="Cortis, Natasha and Katz, Ilan",
volume="129",
number="",
pages="e105657-e105657",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Governments in multiple countries have established redress schemes to acknowledge institutional responsibility for child maltreatment; to provide survivors with access to compensation, counselling and apologies; and to prompt better practice to prevent child maltreatment. Establishing a National Redress Scheme was recommended by Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The Scheme commenced in 2018 and will run for a decade. <br><br>OBJECTIVE: This study sought to understand the ways survivors have experienced applying for redress under the National Redress Scheme, and how Scheme processes could be improved for survivors. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Participants were 322 survivors of child sexual abuse who had applied for redress or considered doing so during the first two years of the Scheme's operation. Two thirds (68%) were aged 55 or over and over half (55%) were men. <br><br>METHODS: To provide feedback about their experiences and perceptions of the National Redress Scheme, participants completed closed and open-ended survey questions. <br><br>RESULTS: Only a minority rated the Scheme as either good (16%) or very good (11%). Survey comments provide insight into the ways waiting has contributed to survivors' negative experiences of the Scheme. Survivors waited for the Scheme to be established, for institutions to opt-in, for decisions, and for direct personal responses. Waiting compounded uncertainty and was retraumatising for survivors. Some avoided seeking redress due to likely delays and risks of retraumatisation. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Australia's National Redress Scheme is an ambivalent policy innovation which can both facilitate support and exacerbate harm. The design of redress schemes should pre-emptively address their potential to generate harm, including by recognising that rapid responses are essential to procedural justice, and particularly important for older survivors of child sexual abuse.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0145-2134",
doi="10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105657",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105657"
}