Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 2883

Tonight's special guest is Darryl Smith from Dunedin, New Zealand, a survivor, advocate and author. He's a longtime NAASCA family member and our NAASCSA Ambassador to New Zealand. He's the author of many books appearing on Amazon. These range from autobiographical works to studies of any number of social issues. 'A Shattered Life' is a true story," Darryl says, "of a battle of a Survivor of child sexual abuse under the hands of the Roman Catholic Church, Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God and the New Zealand and the Queensland Government state system. in 1971 when I was 7 years old and again in 1975 when I was 15 years old. A man who was in both faith-based and state care wants the public to wake up to historical abuse and be concerned that it could still be happening. Darryl Smith, 57, first went into care at the age of seven at Maryland's School in Christchurch, which was run by the Catholic St John of God order. He later went into state care. Smith said countries are judged on how well they treat their children and New Zealand fails in this. "I believe it is up to a village to raise a child and if you see something going wrong with a child, you are supposed to go, 'what is wrong?' 'You are supposed to protect a child, not go, 'I'm not Catholic and it's not my problem.' That's the attitude in this country and it needs to change, because the minute you say it's not your problem, you are the problem,'' he said. "Survivors do not just want lip-service."