A committee of MSPs have questioned compensation scheme bosses over the decision to exclude more than 200 women abused as children at Fornethy House in Angus.
Survivors have campaigned for inclusion, with MSP Fergus Ewing describing their snub as “a bloody disgrace”.
Earlier this year Shona Robison, then deputy first minister, infuriated victims by saying they did not qualify because they only attended the residential school on a short-term basis.
The Redress Scotland Scheme, established for those who suffered abuse in state care before 2004, offers survivors compensation up to £100,000 and a formal apology.
Appearing before the parliament’s petitions committee on Wednesday, the organisation’s chair Dr Kirsty Darwent stressed the need to adhere to Scottish Government guidelines.
She said: “We are the middle bit of a larger, more complex process and effectively as the decision makers we apply the legislation in an independent way.”
Redress Scotland is made up of independent panels, which include professionals from social work, law, and psychology.
Redress currently has 38 panel members who are appointed by Scottish Ministers.
Dr Darwen added: “Regulation was approved by parliament, which specifically excludes those who were in short-term care and where it was considered that parents had made arrangements for that short-term holiday respite care.”
She said the organisation must follow the Redress For Survivors Act (Historical Child Abuse in Care) 2021or face cases being rejected amid the possibility of judicial reviews.
‘Looking at the facts’
Redress chief executive Joanna McCreadie insists panel members make their decision by “looking at the facts and circumstances of that individual case” and that each case is handled with “compassion, dignity and respect”.
Dr Emma Fossey, an independent researcher appointed by the Scottish Government to carry out research on Fornethy House, found there was no recorded evidence of parent or guardian consent for the children to be at the institution.
Mr Ewing says a change to the legislation is “a no-brainer”.
From 1961 onwards, young girls from Glasgow were sent to Fornethy where they were repeatedly subjected to sexual and physical abuse.
Despite the trip being billed as a holiday, girls were instead regularly beaten and even force-fed.
Kelle Fox, who stayed at Fornethy in 1978, previously opened up to The Courier about her treatment at the Angus school.
She said: “If you weren’t being abused, you were watching everybody else being abused.”
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