Welcome to the Address The Harm® season round up, where we reflect on the landmark progress achieved by our guests and the ongoing battles for institutional accountability across Britain's publicly funded institutions.
Since recording our six episodes, we've witnessed extraordinary developments: the government's repeal of the 'presumption of contact' in family courts following years of advocacy by Right to Equality and Fair Hearing; the Chinook families' historic first meeting with the Ministry of Defence after 31 years; revelations about England's maternity scandals being "much worse than anticipated"; and the IOPC's findings on Hillsborough officers that sparked both progress and institutional defensiveness.
But we've also seen the familiar patterns continue: Freedom of Information responses that contradict each other, institutional memory loss designed to avoid accountability, and survivors racing against time to be heard before compensation frameworks are finalised and inquiry recommendations remain unimplemented.
This episode connects the dots across all six episodes of the season, celebrating the wins whilst acknowledging how much further we need to go to end the system where Britain's publicly funded institutions investigate themselves when they cause harm.
Content warning
This episode references domestic abuse, child abuse, police misconduct, maternity deaths, the infected blood scandal, institutional cover-ups, and systemic failures across multiple public institutions. Please take care whilst listening.
Key quotes
"The presumption of parental involvement was introduced in 2014 after pressure from fathers' rights groups - against the advice of the Justice Committee. It entrenched a 'pro-contact' culture that prioritised parental rights over children's safety."
"This isn't incompetence - it's institutional memory loss designed to avoid accountability."
"This raises serious concerns about the continued desire to avoid accountability, the persistent lack of transparency and honesty with victims and the public, and clear systemic failures across multiple authorities."
"It took THIRTY-ONE years for any minister to meet the Chinook families."
"The £200m+ IICSA inquiry has produced 20 recommendations awaiting implementation."
"Whistleblowers face institutional destruction for exposing safeguarding failures."
Contact
Email [email protected], follow @addresstheharm on social media and visit www.addresstheharm.org
Take action
- Support our crowdfunding campaign at crowdfunder.co.uk/addresstheharm to help us build community and record more episodes with post office survivors, Church of England abuse survivors, care leavers, families of maternity deaths, Grenfell survivors and others
Address The Harm is hosted by Leah Brown FRSA, founder of The WayFinders Group and architect of The Coalition for Institutional Accountability.
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