The Age:Sect Made Protest On Medicals
Sect Made Protest On Medicals
By Leonie Lamont
Some children from the Children of God sect were subjected to medical examinations against their will while in the care of Community Services Victoria, according to affidavits by the children and their parents.
The claims followed an exchange between the Government and Opposition in State Parliament yesterday, with an Opposition allegation that the children were strip-searched by CSV. The Minister for Community Services, Ms Setches, attacked the Opposition's "outrageous imputation".
But affidavits that have been seen by `The Age' say that even though some of the children objected to having to strip to their underwear, they were told by doctors at the Janefield institution for the intellectually disabled, to which they were taken, that they had to.
The Opposition's community services spokesman, Mr John, told State Parliament he had 11 statutory declarations from the children and parents "to the effect that the children were stripped and intimately examined".
Ms Setches said she had been advised by CSV that medical examinations had been carried out, "as is usual, by paediatricians", but said she would investigate the claims in the affidavits.
A spokeswoman for CSV said later: "Our advice still is if the children said they didn't want to participate, they didn't participate."
