wfn.org | UMNS# 04512-United Methodist panel to review reports of child

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United Methodist panel to review reports of child abuse situations 

Nov. 2, 2004	 News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New
York {04512}

By Linda Bloom*

NEW YORK (UMNS) - An independent panel will be named by December to review
reports of child abuse situations decades ago in United Methodist mission
settings.

In action taken recently by the denomination's Board of Global Ministries,
the three-member panel is intended as a "fact-finding, consultative and
primarily pastoral" body. It will be independent of the mission agency,
serving in advisory capacity, but will not reach conclusions about civil
legal liability.

The panel's main task will be to follow up on a report authorized by the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that was publicly released in October 2002. The
Presbyterian investigating committee concluded that sexual abuse of
missionary children occurred between 1945 and 1978 in what is now the
Democratic Republic of Congo, at both a Presbyterian school in Lubondai and a
Methodist-Presbyterian Hostel in Kinshasa.

Some of those abused over the years were children of Methodist missionaries,
the board learned.

The Rev. R. Randy Day, who assumed leadership of the Board of Global
Ministries after the report was released, appointed a task force to assess
the situation last March. The task force studied the final report of the
Presbyterian investigating committee, met with the abuse survivors and
recommended a process "toward healing the deep wounds that have been carried
so long."

The independent panel is expected to receive allegations of child abuse -
including physical and/or sexual abuse - in cases where the accused was
related to the board or its predecessors in a mission setting or the abused
individual was in the mission setting under the care of the accused.

Inquiries would then be made into the allegations and the findings conveyed
to the appropriate church officials. Panel members also would "engage the
survivors in exploring possibilities by which healing and wholeness can be
pursued."

The panel will report back, at least annually, to board directors.

"The General Board of Global Ministries is committed to care for the
survivors who have identified themselves and for those who may yet feel the
anguish of abuse suffered as children entrusted to our care and supervision,"
said the board's report recommending the "Independent Panel for the Review of
Child Abuse in Mission Settings."

The mission agency thanked the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) "for creating a
model that has proven to be very effective and for sharing their process and
experience with us."

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.

News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.

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United Methodist News Service
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