While redress cannot undo the harm done to former students who have been abused, the Board is committed to supporting them through an independent Redress Programme.
The Dilworth Redress Programme, which provides for a full redress response including financial redress, is available to any former Dilworth student subjected to sexual or serious physical abuse committed by a Dilworth representative, or a person who had access to the former student through a Dilworth Representative. It is also available to any former student who was sexually abused by another Dilworth student. The estate of a deceased former student who was abused can also apply to the Redress Programme.
The Dilworth Redress Programme was launched on 29 August 2022. Former students who have been abused can visit the Programme’s website here to register their interest in making an application for redress.
Former High Court Judge Dame Judith Potter DNZM CBE is Chair of the independent Dilworth Redress Programme Panel (the Redress Panel), and is joined by clinical psychologist Professor Ian Lambie ONZM and governance expert Ms Rukumoana Schaafhausen MNZM.
These three independent Panel Members are together considering the applications of former students who have been abused and determining their applications for redress. The Board has no control or influence over the Panel and is bound by their decisions including the amount of financial redress to be offered to each eligible applicant.
The Dilworth Redress Programme is supported by a team of Redress Facilitators, skilled in the redress process, who help each former student to prepare an application, and provide the Redress Panel with all the necessary supporting information. Redress Facilitators are independent of the Redress Panel and the Dilworth Trust Board.
The Dilworth Redress Programme represents a best practice approach covering four key elements: Acknowledgement, Apology, Psychological Therapy and Support, and Financial Redress.
Redress will be tailored to each former Dilworth student, as determined by the independent Redress Panel, and may include:
Fairness and equity for, and between, former students who have been abused, is central to the way the Redress Panel considers applications.
Any engagement with the Dilworth Redress Programme will be confidential. Each redress applicant’s (and their family’s) privacy will be protected from the very start of the process and on an ongoing basis, unless the redress applicant wishes to share the details of their experience with the Programme.
There is no cost to applicants to register and make an application for redress.
Redress applicants (or the estates of deceased former students who were abused) can accept the offer of redress or choose to not do so. They can also concurrently apply for a claim through the Government’s puretumu torowhānui redress scheme that may be introduced as recommended in the He Purapura Ora, he Māra Tipu report from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
Current indications from Government are that its puretumu torowhānui redress scheme may be established in 2024. We encourage former students who were abused to participate in one or both redress programmes based on what feels most appropriate for them.
The development of the Dilworth Redress Programme was guided and informed by the interim recommendations from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
From Redress to Puretumu Torowhānui/Holistic Redress.
In developing the proposed Dilworth Redress Programme Terms, the Board completed a comprehensive review of approaches to redress by governments and institutions internationally and consulted with legal and psychological experts in New Zealand as well as experts abroad who have experience in redress schemes.
Dilworth sought feedback on the proposed Dilworth Redress Programme Terms from former students who have been abused and their legal representatives, others affected by abuse and the wider Dilworth community. This feedback was used to inform the design and development of the Dilworth Redress Programme Terms, which were finalised by the Redress Panel and have guided their work.
The Dilworth Redress Programme is managed independently of Dilworth, with determinations made by an independent panel of three experienced professional individuals of high standing, expertise, and relevant experience:
These three independent Panel Members together consider the applications of former students who have been abused and determine their applications for redress. The independent Redress Panel has no direct involvement with the Dilworth Trust Board, and Dilworth has no control or influence over the Panel, how it carries out its important work, or its decisions about financial redress.
For more information on the panel members, see here.
In light of the findings of the Independent Inquiry, the Board has revisited the Dilworth Redress Programme Terms.
The Board has listened to, and acknowledges feedback from former students who were abused and those who participated in the work of the Inquiry that the wording relating to a student who was sexually abused by another student needed to change and be unqualified.
The Board has worked with the Redress Panel to change the eligibility for this type of sexual abuse, by removing the caveats that the abuse occur where “a Dilworth representative failed to take reasonable steps to protect against the potential for that abuse, or where the sexual abuse was encouraged or permitted by a Dilworth representative.” This change has been applied retrospectively to all applications for redress as well as to future applications.
The Board hopes this will make it easier for survivors of this kind of sexual abuse to apply for redress and for their cases to be considered by the Redress Panel. You can read more here.