Yesterday, a panel – made up largely of abuse survivors and created in the wake of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry – outlined its four recommendations to ensure the Island does not forget the children who have been failed in the past.
The Citizens’ Panel has recommended that a memorial with an apology should be installed in the Royal Square and it has also called for more help and support for abuse survivors and their families.
It also recommended that 3 July – the anniversary of the publication of the care inquiry report – should be designated ‘Jersey Children’s Day’, an annual day which should include a minute’s silence.
And the panel has also recommended that an emblem of a butterfly should be used to link all the elements of the legacy project.
Hours after the recommendations were unveiled the Council of Ministers said that it agreed in principle to the proposals and that it would look at discussing them in further detail after the summer recess of the States Assembly.
Ministers also said that they had decided that Haut de la Garenne – which was at the centre of the historical abuse inquiry – would not be torn down.
The results of a public consultation, which asked Islanders if they thought the listed building should be razed to the ground, were released yesterday and revealed that 94 per cent of the 850 respondents did not believe it should be demolished.
And the Citizens’ Panel, which is made up of 14 Islanders, was also unanimous that the building should remain.
Ministers have now said that they have accepted the findings of the public consultation and have ‘agreed to further work to establish the long-term use of the site’.
Minister for Children and Housing Sam Mézec, who is leading the States response to the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry, said the government was ‘fully committed to the care and protection of our Island’s children’ and that ministers would be coming back with ‘firm proposals’ on how to implement the recommendations of the panel.
‘Ministers unanimously agreed today with the consultation findings not to demolish the Haut de la Garenne site, but instead to ensure that it is redeemed through a positive use over the long-term,’ he said.
‘We also unanimously agreed that Jersey must remember and recognise the children who we failed in the past and that we should celebrate our Island’s children.’
