Children of God: Survivors of sadistic sex cult face ‘unfair’ hurdles to National Redress Scheme

They were sexually abused, tortured, starved and beaten by a sadistic sex cult, yet advocates say victims face an “deeply unfair and unjust” battle for compensation due to the institution they were abused in. LISTEN TO PRAYED UPON EPISODE 2

Survivors of a sadistic cult that sexually abused, tortured, starved and beat children across Australia should have easier access to compensation through the National Redress Scheme, a legal advocacy group says.

The redress scheme was established following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Childhood Sexual Abuse and relies on organisations to voluntarily join and pay financial compensation.

Governments can take on responsibility if the organisations no longer exist.

The New South Wales Government is currently the only state signed up as a “funder of last resort” for victims of the Children of God (also known as The Family International) – a cult notorious for the widespread sexual abuse of children.

The Victorian and Western Australian governments have now pledged to follow suit should they be asked to by the Commonwealth following applications from survivors.

Children of God founder David Berg with a child. Source: davidberg.org

Survivors have told The Courier-Mail abuse occurred all over Australia and overseas, including in Queensland where men who donated cash to the cult were labelled “Kings” and given access to young girls.

Knowmore, which provides free legal support and advocacy for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, called on other governments to join NSW in financially assisting victims.

Manager of law reform and advocacy Lauren Hancock said it was “deeply unfair and unjust” that victims of sexual abuse could be prevented from accessing the scheme because of the institution they were abused in.

And she said survivors should absolutely seek legal advice before applying to the scheme because a subsequent payout would prevent them from future civil litigation.

“In the Children of God case, there is a further layer of unfairness because the NSW Government has stepped in as the funder of last resort and we are still waiting on the other governments, which are yet to do so,” she said.

“I know the Royal Commission referred to governments having a moral and social responsibility to address the harm done to survivors even when they weren’t legally liable – and I think that’s really important.”

A Children of God facility in Melbourne in the 1990s is raided by police. Source: Channel 9

Ms Hancock said survivors from other states could apply for redress and the Commonwealth Government would approach the relevant state and ask them to join the scheme.

“Our experience is that it’s really unfairly putting the onus on survivors to make that application and it’s unfair to ask a survivor to make that application when they don’t have any certainty that it will actually go anywhere,” she said.

Maria Esguerra, a psychologist and advocate for Children of God survivors, said seeking compensation can be an arduous and traumatic process for people born into the cult.

“Cult survivors like these have been told their whole life that they don’t matter,” she said.

“There is so much shame and secrecy cloaked in their abuse.

“From my experience, even telling them they are deserving of something is difficult for them to comprehend.

“And when you make the process more difficult, there’s just an overwhelming sense that it’s never going to happen.

“Anything we can do to give people more hope is incredibly important.”

Ms Esguerra said she was aware of one survivor who she believed was the first Australian to access the redress scheme through the NSW Government.

But she said it was difficult to put a monetary figure on the years of abuse suffered by children of the Children of God.

“I know people with whiplash claims who get more,” she said.

The Courier-Mail contacted the Queensland, Western Australian and Victorian governments to ask whether they would be a “funder of last resort” for abuse victims from The Children of God.

“We acknowledge the pain and trauma of all victim-survivors of institutional child sexual abuse,” a Victorian Government spokesperson said.

“We want to assure victim-survivors that they can access redress should the Commonwealth ask Victoria to act as the Funder of Last Resort for the Children of God.”

A Western Australian Department of Justice spokesperson made a similar pledge.

“Should the Western Australian Government be requested to act as funder of last resort for survivors of the Children of God/The Family International for sexual abuse which occurred in Western Australia it will act upon the request. At this time, no such request has been made,” they said.

Child Safety Charis Mullen said: “Questions about the process for seeking agreement from states and territories to act as a Funder of Last Resort are best addressed to the Australian Government as operator of the National Redress Scheme.”