The Jersey Home For Girls, or Grouville Girl's Home, had not received any State Media attention during the Child Abuse scandal and there were those saying that the institution never existed. That was until we published documented proof, in Jean's Guest Posting, to include official records and photographs of the home. Jean's Guest Posting can be read HERE.
We then exclusively interviewed Jean, nine days later, when she came to Jersey and spoke of the Girl's Home, the abuse she suffered there, the book she wrote about her childhood and later years, and how "good can come from bad." The Interview can be viewed HERE.
Regular readers will be aware that we now have a public Child Abuse Inquiry taking place, which unfortunately Bloggers have been marginalised and banned from the media room under spurious grounds as reported HERE. Despite the banning of Bloggers, (Jersey's only independent media) by the Committee of Inquiry, VFC continues to be of assistance to the Inquiry by supplying it with evidence and witnesses to include Jean Neal.
After listening to an extremely brave witness give live evidence to the Committee of Inquiry, VFC made contact with Jean, and told her of the witness and her evidence. The witness was a resident at the Home For Girls and spoke of the punishment, and regime, at the home. When asked by the Committee's lawyer if she knew of any others who suffered the same treatment as her , at the home, the witness replied in the negative.
VFC DID know of a former resident at the home (Jean Neal) who HAD suffered the same abuse, and to cut a long story short VFC was able to reunite the witness with Jean Neal after 60 plus years and now Jean is also giving evidence to the Child Abuse Inquiry as a direct result of VFC being present at the public hearing, and being so researched on the Child Abuse atrocities.
We interviewed Jean, Friday just gone, and talked to her about the ongoing Committee of Inquiry and how she doesn't feel she is believed by the Inquiry. She speaks of her recent experiences with the Jersey Archive who, she says, are not as helpful with supplying her with documents as they once were (pre Child Abuse Committee Of Inquiry). Records, we are told, have "gone missing."