SHIRLEY OAKS SURVIVORS ASSOCIATION
PRESS RELEASE
WEDNESDAY 5th FEBRUARY 2025
SOSA (Shirley Oaks Survivors Association) applaud todays announcement by the Government that the important recommendations from IICSA (Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse) will now be implemented; namely the lifting of the 3 year limitation on victims and survivors being able to pursue their perpetrators through civil actions.
Ever since we conducted our two year campaign on the time bar loophole, which the Metropolitan Police relied on to protect officers who had sexually abused our members or covered it up for their associates; we have lobbied and received growing support from a number of cross party MPs namely:
Helen Hayes MP, Vicky Foxcroft MP Kevin Hollinrake MP, Jess Phillips MP Jenny Jones (House of Lords), Caroline Russell Assembly Member, Chair, Police and Crime Committee, Roderick Lynch (Lib Dem Campaign for Race Equality), Lambeth Councillor Scott Ainslie, Amy Clowrey (Switalskis) and KC Imran Khan (IKP & Partners) who represents our members who were part of the media campaign.
However it was our brave members who are child abuse survivors from the Lambeth care system who wavered their right to anonymity to speak out for justice highlighting the police reliance on the time bar to deny justice through civil actions in the courts.
The impact of their bravery will enable tens of thousands of victims nationwide to finally get justice and parity with a law that has been in place in Scotland for many years.
Despite the SOSA investigation forcing Lambeth to pay over £140 million in compensation we continue to fight for our hundreds of members who were excluded from the redress scheme and were denied justice due to this law.
Even though this battle has now been won there may still be a loophole for the police abusers who covered up the action of their colleagues or associates but the statement that the courts should ultimately ‘work for the public they serve,’ suggests that survivors will now be at the forefront of all decisions.
It is important to remind everyone, for all our members that took their own lives, its the criminality of the paedophiles and subsequent cover up that kills’.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-reforms-to-support-victims-of-child-sexual-abuse
SOSA lift the time bar Campaign video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrXHKNgl63s&t=70s
Dr Raymond Stevenson (SOSA)
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Hundreds of people who have suffered abuse at the hands of a Lambeth Children’s Home have formed an action group (Shirley Oaks Survivors Association) which aims to get justice for the many that have been sexually, mentally and physically abused whilst in the supposed care of Lambeth Social Services. The abuse suffered at The Shirley Oaks Children’s Home over a period of years dating from the 1950s to 1983 was the catalyst for the endemic sexual abuse that later spread across the UK.
7000 children passed through the gates of Shirley Oaks, which was situated on a site which was approximately 70 acres in size, complete with its own school, swimming pool, works depot and a doctor’s surgery. For most vulnerable children aged between 2 -14 years, it was easy to believe they had been sent to an outpost of heaven. Lush green fields surrounded the village style setting with houses branching off the enclosed ring road which for many would end up being a road paved to hell.
Whether you suffered abuse or not was a lottery depending on which house you were sent to - your fate was sealed. Behind the closed doors of a Victorian style care system was a Victorian style ethos. Children should be seen and not heard and can be abused and not listened to. In the early sixties this seemingly picturesque environment became a breeding ground for predators as they drove their cars around offering sweets and other inducements looking to seduce their vulnerable prey.
The Shirley Oaks Survivors Association (SOSA) is a support group that has been set up to listen and document the accounts of those who have suffered or witnessed a variety of horrific abuse whilst in care in Lambeth Children's Homes.
Acclaimed author Alex Wheatle, a victim of abuse whilst in the Lambeth Care system states, ‘We have been forced to form this group because of the failures to take our allegations seriously. We would like to see those who have committed these crimes and those who have failed in their care of duty to extremely vulnerable children, to be made responsible and accountable for their abject neglect’.