What would you do? Help me think this through please.

Oh, and please accept these as a gesture of my applause for your courage to speak up for those who can't

You know, don't you, Gadabout, that you have to act? It must have been really tough for you over time to have carried this for so long, because it sounds like its never really left you - and it won't - until you feel some resolution.

I would echo Nightowl's suggestion - but would go direct to the Local Safeguarding Board. Have a look at the website
www.safenetwork.org.uk for full details of their statutory obligations - there's good advice and guidance on their pages. The network was started as part if the Givernment's Staying Safe action plan.

To follow up on others' suggestions, I would contact the local authority children's services dept, and if I felt they were not taking it seriously I would write to the local safeguarding board outlining my concerns. The safeguarding board has a duty to oversee all agencies with a child protection remit and can be found online. If I felt I was getting nowhere I would contact my MP direct, in line with when's suggestion.

Good luck, Gadabout, you're obviously doing what you wanted to do and I hope it works out and makes you feel that you've done your best

Thanks whenim64- good idea,

Thanks for the update Gadabout. I didn't see your previous post - they disappear after an hour - I would have responded then if I had. Is there a relevant government department that you could alert? Given Theresa May's speech in the House of Commons and the current climate, you could expect to get a proper response.

I've contacted various charities involved with child abuse to ask advice. However, reporting it to a local police station didn't seem the best place as this could be of wider interest. What I've just found which seems to be the most useful place to lodge what I know is the Child Abuse Solicitors Society which covers the UK. They will know if others are coming forward who experienced abuse in this organisation and can contact me if my information can be helpful to them. I've now emailed them asking for their thoughts. I'm still trying other avenues but feel much relief now I've found the above.

Thanks for all the support & suggestions which are helping me clarify my thinking.
What I most want to offer someone is the learning about how organisations prevent things being investigated & acted on though I suppose I also want to expose what they did, especially if people affected by abuse in this organisation are now coming forward, & to discover if things have changed. To clarify some of the questions above: It was actually a Trustee who vilified me & our work. The perpetrator (of 49 cases going back at least 20 years) involved with the team I was engaged to support was brought to justice and served a 4 month prison sentence but it's the way the team and vicitms were treated by the management & the attitudes of people we came across that were so awful. The organisation had had a Child Protection Officer for a few years then but she was battling against some of the attitudes. I have looked up their latest codes etc on-line which are fine in theory but only work in practice if people feel free to use them. At that time (10 years ago) the person who was meant to receive reports of allegations in that area was the person who wrote threatening letters to the team of volunteers and made light of the abuse. The feeling that there was a lot more abuse going on than was being reported was from what we were told by people in th eorganisation and by the fact that it seemed so unlikely that there were no reports of cases in large areas of the country when there were so many cases reported in other areas. There was no particular person or case I knew about. The perpetrator who was imprisoned had, like JS, 'groomed' the whole organisation and he had reached a senior position within it.

As a next step I am in the process of contacting the leader of the team whose whole family had been friends of this perpetrator and were severely affected to see where she stands now. I was told by management that I'd find the team of volunteers to be over-emotional, ignorant and irrational - they were anything but those things.

Gadabout If it was someone close to you who had been abused, wouldn't you want somebody to stand up for them?

How will you feel if you do nothing?

Yes, I know what you mean Jess, having read it again a couple of times. The chief exec has dismissed allegations of abuse towards young people and prevented them being investigated, which has caused certain teams to protest and affect the way the organisaton does its job, which means there may be a cover up, as has happened with the BBC. However, being told by staff that risks to children weren't investigated, despite there being a degree of acknowledgement from this man that something abusive appears to have happened, makes me think there are records that have been closed as requiring no action, which is still worth reporting to the police. Allegations and complaints made, but not followed up, may still reveal victims of abuse who thought they had not originally been believed, and who may still want abuse allegations investigated. This chief exec certainly needs interviewing.

How very hard for you. I would sit down with your colleague and think through all the implications of possible action as outlined by other posters above.

I think that is where your support in making a decision will lie as she will know and understand all the implications.

The fact that these chaps are still in post is what makes the discussions with your colleague of greater importance.

I worked in my holidays in a children's home when I was 16 and was horrified at what went on - I did report to the LA but was not believed - I was too young and inexperienced to take it further as I should have done.

It does sound as if you really want to do something, it's not too late. Have you a partner, offspring, close friend who can support you? You may come under considerable pressure to back down.

Sorry when but it sounds as if gadabouts knowledge might have been very indirect. I can imagine that if you cannot actually name names of either victims or perpetrators (which could be the case) it would be very difficult to take to the police - but you are an expert in this area [bowing emoticon]

I think with something as important as this one can not remain silent, sadly it may make life very uncomfortable for you.
god give you the strength to see it through.

My reading of this is that you want to do something about it and you are just about ready to act. You know the possible flak that will fly don't you? Go to the police and if you feel it will help take someone with you for support. Good luck and you have my respect for bringing this up.

Agree with j05 that if you have a former colleague who would join you it would be mutually supportive as well as giving more weight to your case. Good luck

I agree that it would be right to go to the police, especially as this Chief Executive is still in place. And ask your colleague if she would be willing to speak up too.

Yep, absolutely when.

Gadabout - I admire your post, and the initial action you took over your concerns. I would certainly contact the NSPCC and the police. Trust your instincts. It's not always easy to stand up and voice one's concerns, but it is worth it, regardless of the difficulties it might present.
One point of advice - Remain aware of any possible media involvement following any information you pass on, and how that might affect you - even if you do so anonymously.
Good luck with your decision making.

Jess I don't think you have to directly witness abuse in the case of young people being harmed. For child protection purposes, being aware of a risk to children gives a mandate to inform social services or police so they can check it out.

Gadabout if the touching was towards young people and this executive is still in place, the organisation is culpable at a corporate level. Any organisation working with young people is required to adhere to Child Protection/Safegarding standards. Take your concerns to the police. An admission of 'touching, not penetration' indicates abuse has taken place, anyway.

Hmm. Whistle blowing policies protect employees don't they. So they don't apply in this case.
It sounds like a charity. If so, the first port of call should be the trustees. Write to the chair and copy in all trustees individually, listing your concerns. Or were the trustees in the thick of this resistance?
Unless of course you have directly witnessed abuse, in which case, report to police. But it sounds like it was circumstantial , hearsay and reading between the lines rather eyewitness.

The organisation is called pcaw - public concern at work. I get their newsletter every week detailing cases they have been able to highlight.

There is an organisation which helps whistle-blowers. Do you want me to find the link for you? I also feel guilty because when I was teaching in 1973 a girl tried to tell me that her father and uncle were abusing her. I took my suspicions to the head, who refused to take any action because 'They are a good catholic family and would not do that'. At that time, there was no system in place for me to go over the head of my headteacher. I wish I had known that I could contact the NSPCCC or social services, but these things were never talked about.
Please follow your instinct and pass on your misgivings.

I think the fact that you have posted this indicates that you want to do something about it, so follow your instincts.

If you would feel more comfortable doing it anonymously, then do so, but perhaps the fact an old colleague is having the same thoughts might enable you to present a united front?

I said to Mr P only the other day, I wish that bastard Savile was still alive to be vilified in the way he deserves, the fact that his funeral was treated almost like that of a "saint" sickens me.

Sorry -I thought I'd checked my post above but my cut and pasting went a bit awry & I realise how stewed up this has made me feel again!
To clsrify - The people they wanted me to shut up were the team affected by the abuse, not the resistant men. Also it should read 'hard (not and) to believe'. The behaviour I wished I'd exposed was that of the organisation not the vicitms.