Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse

We aim to offer mutual support and act as a coherent voice for the needs and demands of survivors of institutional abuse and to campaign for justice for the many children – now adults – who suffered physical, sexual, mental and emotional abuses in institutions across Northern Ireland.

We are a group of former residents of children’s institutions in Northern Ireland and, as advocates of healing, support and justice, we aim to regain the self-respect, dignity and recognition denied to us as children.

The group was established following the publication of the Ryan Report (which uncovered a shocking litany of historic abuse in the Republic of Ireland), when former survivors of institutional abuse developed a campaign to highlight the abuses and neglect that also took place in institutions in Northern Ireland.

We believe that the individual victims of past abuse are entitled to an effective investigation of past abuses, proper recognition and full redress. We aim to provide a voice for victims and survivors of abuse and to ensure that they are consulted by the Government in order to shape the necessary Inquiry, as well as the support services that should be available to all survivors of abuse in residential institutions.