There are a number of controversies raging in the world of child protection. Three in particular have attracted attention in recent months. There is the issue of the ‘repressed’ or ‘false’ memories of adults recalling sexual abuse in childhood. This topic has received extensive coverage in professional journals (see, for example, Neale, 1994 for a summary) and in the broader media (Wyndham, 1994).

Once again, the very label given to the problem defines the debate, as indeed has been the case since modern interest in child abuse was prompted by Kempe's (1962) work. It is interesting to note that ‘false memory syndrome’ is now the term used by some to counter claims of abuse in childhood. As Neale points out (1994:17) the term has ‘no medical validity, but the use of the word ‘syndrome’ perhaps suggests such a feature.

White Australia was founded by exporting convicts from Britain. According to Fabian and Loh (1980) until the 1820s, about a quarter of those convicts were aged 18 years or less. While this is now common knowledge, the full scale of child exportation from Britain has only recently come to public attention.

The interest that this former child welfare practice has aroused is largely due to the work of a social worker. Margaret Humphreys, who founded the Child Migrant's Trust.

This paper was presented at a seminar on ending the physical punishment of children, held in Melbourne in September, 1994.

The recent articles (Goddard 1993a; 1993b; 1994), describing in some detail the battle of the woman who refused to ignore the abuse of her child by a school teacher, have provoked a number of telephone calls and letters. A number of people have praised the tenacity and courage of the mother in continuing to battle against the bureaucracy.

One mother has given permission to publish her story of similar experiences in attempting to get the bureaucracy to pay attention to the rights of children to protection. It is of great concern to me that, six years after first writing about this (Goddard 1988), the responses of organisations do not appear to have greatly changed.

Where a staff member is accused of abusing a child, the organisations still appear to be more concerned with protecting themselves rather than protecting the vulnerable children (Hechler 1988).

I would like to take this opportunity to repeat the questions I asked last year:

A number of people have contacted me about the interview published tn the last two issues of Children Australia (Goddard 1993a; 1993b). The mother's courage and persistence have clearly impressed many readers. In the latest development, the Victorian Ombudsman has reported on the case (Annual Report, 1992-1993, The Ombudsman Victoria, pp 40-42). I quote at length from his report:

This is the second part of an interview with a manager in a British Social Services Department; the first part appeared in Children Australia, vol. 19, no. 3.