Now that I have been able to post on my blog I can post this important information about the BFMS.
An American paedophile called Ralph Underwager invented False Memory Syndrome. Underwager was a man who believed it was perfectly acceptable for grown men to have sex with little children. Here is a little taste of Underwager's moral values, from an interview he gave to a magazine called Paidika:
"Paedophiles can boldly and courageously affirm what they choose. They can say that what they want is to find the best way to love. . . . Paedophiles can make the assertion that the pursuit of intimacy and love is what they choose. With boldness they can say, "I believe this is in fact part of God's will."
This is the statement posted onto the Charity Commission's website concerning the aims of the BFMS:
"THE BFMS CONTINUES ITS CORE WORK OF SUPPORTING THE MEMBERSHIP (PEOPLE WHOSE LIVES HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY FALSE MEMORY) AND EDUCATING AND INFORMING PUBLIC, PROFESSIONALS AND MEDIA WHERE APPROPRIATE. SUPPORT INCLUDES THE AVAILABILITY OF THE TELEPHONE HELPLINE, AN AGM, NEWSLETTERS AND REGIONAL MEETINGS."
Here are the reference and administitive details for December 2009:
Reference and Administrative Details
Registered Charity number
1040683
Principal address
The Old Brewery
BRADFORD ON AVON
Wiltshire
BA15 1NF
Trustees
Lady Parker BM BCh Chair of Trustees
B Reed Honorary Treasurer
Mrs S Thompson Secretary
R Oade
Reverend J Young
A Poole
Auditors
Berkeley Hall Marshall Limited
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditor
6 Charlotte Street
Bath
BA1 2NE
Here is a list of news items from the BFMSs website:
News Items
Contents:
Science Weekly - Memory on Trial. Professor Chris French and Professor Tim Valentine from the psychology department at Goldsmiths University of London look at how the failings of human memory can lead to gross miscarriages of justice.
False Memories of sexual abuse lead to terrible miscarriages of justice. Guardian Online, Thu 25th Nov 2010. Columnist Chris French talks about the new book Miscarriage of Memory, published by the BFMS.
Twin re-wrote Childhood Memory Loss Guardian Online, Saturday 26th June 2010. A story of how one twin reminded the other of their childhood after a motorbike accident left the first twin with no memory. Or click here to listen A podcast from the BBC Website, October 2010.
Meredith Maran - Did my father really abuse me? - Guardian Online, Saturday 9th October 2010.
No anonymity Law - Letters to the Editor, The Times, Tuesday 20 Jul 2010 (comment on previous article underneath)
Anonymity in rape trials is essential - Letters to the Editor, The Times, Monday 19 Jul 2010
Obituary - Jill Parker (Follow this link to The Times)
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Jill Parker, Chair of the BFMS Board of Trustees, who died peacefully on 11th March 2010. She meant a lot to us in BFMS and we shall miss her immensely because she was with us almost from the beginning. We enjoyed her kind hospitality for many trustees' meetings in London and for that splendid reflection day at Minster Lovell. She had a gentle way of leading us which was very appropriate and all backed up by genuine, deep understanding and compassion coming from her professional background as a General Practitioner and her personal values. We admired her courage and cheerfulness and remember that she really put herself out on our behalf in the Refuge issue when she resigned as one of their trustees when challenged over her work with the BFMS. As I understand it, her garden which my wife and I visited nearly two years ago, was an expression of her spirituality for she said, “I keep my soul in my gumboots”.
Rev’d John Young
BFMS Trustee
16th March 2010
Psychotherapy rebels consider rebranding to avoid state regulation - Sarah Boseley. The Guardian On-Line May 2010.
Self help books can 'convince women that they were victims of child sex abuse' - Kate Devlin. Daily Telegraph 8 Apr 2010.
BFMS's Position from Madeline Greenhalgh - The Church Times 2 Apr 2010
British False Memory Society's Letter - comment by Lucy Huntington - The Church Times 26 Mar 2010
Memories of abuse to be reappriased - Bill Bowder, The Church Times 19 Mar 2010
Jo Woodiwiss writes, Why do women identify themselves as victims of childhood sexual abuse? Guardian On-Line 12 March 2010.
A suitable case for libel? Chris French - Guardian On-Line 31st March 2010.
Churches Misled on Child Protection. The Scientific and Professional Advisory Board to BFMS writes to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, to correct the misinformation provided by their child protection advisors to the Safeguarding Adviser for the Church of England and Methodist Church, the Reverend Pearl Luxon.
Church must accept reality of false memories of childhood sexual abuse. The notion that therapists can help people to 'recover' memories of sexual abuse causes serious harm to patients and their families, writes psychologist Chris French.
Call for church to renounce book aimed at victims of child sexual abuse. Scientists specialising in false memory syndrome have written to the archbishop ofCanterbury criticising The Courage to Heal, which they describe as 'misleading' and 'potentially harmful'.
Consultation on the Statutory Regulation of Psychotherapists and Counsellors - The Health Professions Council (HPC) has launched a consultation and invite professionals and the public to contribute by 16th October 2009. To download copies of the consultation please see the HPC Website.
Dear Tanya: Is psychotherapy to blame for our daughter’s lack of contact? We don’t understand why our daughter has distanced herself from her family - The Times, 21 July 2009
Professor Chris French, BFMS Advisory Board member, has a new regular column on the Guardian Online science pages. His next topic will discuss false memories and the work of the BFMS and will be appearing on Tuesday, 7th April. Please feel free to leave your comments on the blog site.
Hysteria in Four Acts - Article by Paul McHugh in Commentary Magazine.com, December 2008
Mother loses libel battle over 'Ugly' lawyer's misery memoir - The Times, 2 December 2008
Mother denies judge's abuse claim - BBC News, 18 November 2008
Weird ... or what? Why do people have paranormal experiences? - The Guardian, 14 October 2008
Is your mind playing tricks on you? - The Guardian, 16 September 2008
False child abuse claims to be kept on file - The Daily Telegraph, 13 September 2008
Study shows how false memories rerun 7/7 film that never existed - The Guardian, 10 September 2008
Experts able to plant false memories in minds - The Herald 29th August 2008
Family torn apart by child abuse slur - The Sunday Mercury, 22 July 2008
Can you regulate psychotherapy? - The Times, 15 July 2008
New research sparks fears over paedophile convictions - The Sunday Mercury, 14 July 2008 plus letters published in response - 20 July 2008
You can't trust a witness's memory, experts tell courts - The Times, 11 July 2008
Courts do not rely on a person’s memory alone - The Times, 11 July 2008
CBS remake of "Sybil" - Press release from Pamela Freyd, FMSF in America to TV Movie Reviewer - 5 June 2008
Memory, make-believe and the courts - what's the mischief? - Inside Time, May 2008
I see a tall,dark stranger...from trading standards - The Times, 23 May 2008
When claims are false, lives can be destroyed - The Times, 20 December 2007
Dangerous Convictions - Inside Time, December 2007
Second Opinion - Private Eye, 23 November - 6 December 2007
Disciplinary Notice - Mrs Janet Sinclair - The Psychologist, December 2007
Lies of Little Miss Misery - Daily Mail, 1 November 2007
Brain Stains and Brain Stains: In Sheri's Words - Scientific American, October 2007
Woman wins memory therapy pay-out - The Press Association, 20 October 2007
Talking therapy roll-out gets thumbs-up - Community Care, 18 October 2007
Psychobabble is ruining thousands of minds - The Observer, 4 February 2007
Click any of the following for news items from that year
2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1999
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Health Professions Council - Statutory Regulation of Psychotherapists and Counsellors
Further information is in preparation.
***
CBS remake of "Sybil"
The item below is a press release that Pamela Freyd has just sent to TV reviewers:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - TV MOVIE REVIEWER - JUNE 5, 2008
SYBIL: AN MPD HOAX
On Saturday June 7, 2008 CBS will air its remake of the movie SYBIL, (based on the 1973 book with the same name) about an early, alleged case of "multiple-personality disorder" (MPD).
SYBIL was the first major book/movie to tie "MPD" to child abuse. Before SYBIL was published, there were fewer than 50 reported cases of MPD worldwide. By 1994, over 40,000 cases had been reported.
SYBIL, however, is well known to be a hoax. See, for example, The New York Review of Books, 44(7), April 24, 1997, "Sybil-The Making of a Disease: An Interview with Dr. Herbert Spiegel," by Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen.1
Dr. Spiegel (Faculty, Columbia Medical School) reported that statements from the real "Sybil" convinced him that her "memories" were the result of suggestion by Dr. Cornelia B. Wilbur. He reports that Wilbur engaged author Flora Rheta Schreiber to write "Sybil's" case for a popular audience only after professional journals refused to publish it. He refused to lend his name and credentials to co-author the work when asked to do so by Wilbur and Schreiber.The 2006 book The Bifurcation of the Self: The History and Theory of Dissociation and Its Disorder (Springer) by Professor Robert Rieber (Fordham University) documents how the hoax was perpetrated. Rieber had access to the original Schreiber/Wilbur interview tapes made when Sybil was being written. We learn that the "memories were a result of prolonged hypnosis and, to quote Dr. Wilbur: "Uh, the first time we got any memories back was when I gave her Pentothal ..." (Rieber, page 217)2
Wilbur's treatment of Sybil required eleven years and a total of 2,254 sessions.
In a letter to Dr. Wilbur, (reprinted in Rieber page 91) Schreiber reports that she had visited "Sybil's" hometown but was unable to find anyone to corroborate the awful things that supposedly happened to"Sybil" there. Schreiber was also unable to find the "woods" where
many incidents allegedly occurred.
Will the CBS remake of SYBIL include the information documenting Sybil's MPD as a hoax? Does it matter? Yes! Bitter experience shows that when the media give credence to psychological anomalies, they spread wildly.
Media coverage played a pivotal role in the dissemination of McMartin preschool copycat cases in the mid 1980's, the spread of the "Satanic Panic" and alien abduction sightings in the 1990's, and in widely held beliefs about "repressed" memories of childhood abuse.
SYBIL played a substantial role in a cultural and psychiatric tsunami, later known as the "false" or "recovered" memory debate. In spite of professional skepticism about MPD and multi-million dollar malpractice suits by former MPD patients, there is danger of unleashing another
tsunami unless the truth is told.
Does anyone care? Yes! As Oprah Winfrey's recent experience over the fraudulent James Frey memoir A Million Little Pieces shows, the public really does care to know whether the material served them by the media is fact or fiction.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://www.fmsfonline.org/sybil.html (including the Spiegel interview from the New York Review of Books.
[1] Available from the FMS Foundation. See also http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=1199
[2] This book contains more than 75 pages of transcripts of conversations between Wilbur and Schreiber.
The new TV movie originally scheduled to be shown on CBS over a year ago. It has, in fact, since been shown in six other countries:
Italy - 28 May 2007
New Zealand - 15 Jun 2007
Dominican Republic - 4 Aug 2007
Brazil - 20 Aug 2007
Norway - 3 Jan 2008
Hungary - 23 Feb 2008
It is now finally being slipped into a summer Saturday slot with no advanced publicity. The only mention on the CBS website (www.cbs.com) is in the weekly schedule.
***
Woman wins memory therapy pay-out
A woman who falsely accused her father of rape after undergoing a discredited form of psychotherapy has won a £20,000 payout from health bosses.
Katrina Fairlie, 37, sued NHS Tayside claiming that the 'recovered memory' treatment that triggered the accusations ruined her and her family's lives.
Ms Fairlie, daughter of former deputy leader of the Scottish National Party Jim Fairlie, underwent the therapy after being referred to Perth's Murray Royal Hospital in 1994.
See also: Woman who falsely accused her father of rape reveals 'doctors hijacked my mind', £20,000 payout for woman who falsely accused her father of rape after 'recovered memory' therapy and Settlement for bogus abuse woman
***
Talking therapy roll-out gets thumbs-up
Mental health charities welcomed a government pledge yesterday to roll out talking therapy services across England to treat depression and anxiety.
Health secretary Alan Johnson committed to increasing NHS spending on psychological therapies to £170m by 2010-11, meaning an extra 900,000 people will be treated over the next three years and all GPs eventually will be able to offer the service.
This constitutes a massive increase on current pilot funding on talking therapies: £3.7m over two years for the two major pilots in Doncaster and Newham, east London, which were launched last year, and £2m in total annually for 11 further pilots launched this year.
A survey of over 15,000 community mental health service users published last month by the Healthcare Commission found that over one-third of people who wanted talking treatments did not receive them.
This is despite guidance issued in 2004 by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence calling for people to be offered talking therapies for common mental health problems, given their effectiveness.
A coalition of five mental health charities - the Mental Health Foundation, Mind, Rethink, the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health and YoungMinds - which is campaigning for the guidance to be implemnted said yesterday's announcement was a "welcome boost".
Mental Health Foundation chief executive Andrew McCulloch said: "We hope this will result in the extension of psychological therapies to people of all ages, especially older people, young people and to ethnic minority groups, who are often harder to reach and less likely to be offered talking therapy treatments by their GPs."
***
Psychobabble is ruining thousands of minds - The Observer, 4 February 2007
Your report, 'Crackdown on therapists who abuse vulnerable', (News, last week) will have been welcomed by the thousands who have had their lives wrecked by poor quality therapy and counselling.
We at the British False Memory Society deal every week with people who have been falsely accused of historical sexual abuse. More often than not, the accusation is made by a now-adult child against his or her parent, often following prolonged counselling sessions. In our experience, too many therapists are all ready to conclude that a person's problems have arisen because they were abused as a child. Once this theory is suggested, it can be easy for a vulnerable individual to be suggestible to the idea that these events happened and, with the guidance of the therapist, recall 'repressed memories', which can cause irreparable damage.
The therapy industry has had years to get its house in order. Now hundreds of families are looking to the government finally to bring evidenced-based practice to the thousands of vulnerable people seeking help.
Madeline Greenhalgh
Director
Matt Smith
External Communications Manager
British False Memory Society
Wiltshire
I JUST HOPE THE POLICE ARE READING THIS, BECAUSE THIS HORRIBLE SO CALLED CHARITY NEEDS INVESTIGATING WITHOUT DELAY.
17 comments:
A survivors poem by Binny
Looking Back
When I look back, I need to pry
I often sit and wonder why?
When I look back, I am knee high
Remembering how you made me cry.
When I look back at what you did,
How the hell could you?! I was a kid!
When I look back I was under your spell
You made my life a living hell!!
When I look back I shook with fear,
Hearing your footsteps, coming near
When I look back, how you made me feel,
The years of trauma made me ill!
When I look back I’m filled with rage
Trapped inside a devils cage
When I look back its not with pride
The anger and rage I carry inside
When I look back its not with glee
The evil things you did to me
When I look back, I sit and stare
And wonder if you really care?
When I look back I sit here strong,
Knowing YOU were in the wrong.
When I look back, I feel No shame,
I know I’m not the one to blame.
And When I look now, I promise to tell
Keep on shouting and returning the hell
When I look now, you pathetic creep!
I see the years you made me weep.
When I look now, I stand and stare
Soaking up your filthy glare
When I look now, you’re not so big
You do not scare me, you fat PIG!
When I look now, I wished I knew
How to tell everyone about YOU!
When I look now, I see you’re weak
Nothing but a dirty freak!
When I look now, I return your shame
I will not play your secret game
When I look now, the rage inside!
It isn’t me that wants to hide.
When I look now, I want revenge!
I’ll spread the word, until the end.
When I look now, you’re scared of me?!
Cos I’m not a child, I’ve broken FREE
Lady Parker is dead. I have just found this in her obituary
After retiring as a GP after 35 years she became a willing fundraiser and worker for various projects: including Refuge, which provides shelter for battered wives. But then she became trustee and chair of another charity, the British False Memory Society (false memory being the phenomenon whereby young women “discover” through therapy that they were sexually abused as children and confront their parents with terrible accusations, allegedly dredged from the recesses of memory). Parker resisted the claims of psychotherapy — “It comes straight from America, where you have a therapist as you might have a dentist” — to which vulnerable young women are easily attracted, thereby being drawn into the victim role.
It never struck her that her views on false memory were incompatible with working for Refuge. But Refuge saw things differently. She found this inference that scepticism about false memory could be construed as condoning incestuous paedophilia “rather chilling”, and resigned from Refuge; she was followed by two other stalwarts of the Refuge board, Lady Rayne and Lady Browne-Wilkinson.
The sudden death of her husband, at the end of a holiday in Turkey in the spring of 2002, was a savage blow. But she remained the family anchor at Minster Lovell, and took up activities such as reading with children at a West London school, and helping out with excluded or difficult children, in her Ladbroke Grove neighbourhood.
It may be nothing but I have just been looking at a chap who is a friend of Teresa Cooper, the lady who was abused at Kendall House, and wrote an excellent book called PINDOWN. Teresa changed the title of her book to TRUST NO-ONE, and I was very surprised at the time and asked her why, and she told me she had been advised to distance herself from other Pindown abuse groups, such as Stafford, Withewack House, HDLG, as Kendall House was not anything to do with them. She told me the advice was given to her by her publisher.
I have been very concerned about Tesesa, because she has told me about appalling treatment she has suffered at her local hospital. She has also had somne harrassment from a creepy Turkish guy.
I found Umit Ozturk. Title: Chairman of Amnesty International Journalists Network on her friends list. I had a web search on him and I do not like what I found one little bit.
Us Pindown survivors have been deliberatly isolated. Its only when Stuart Syvret set up his blog that I started to be able to find other Pindown survivors all round the UK, and we have all been treated in the same creepy way.
I cant get on with my life, for fear of watching over my souldred all the time. We all feel like that. This is just mad, because I feel like I have had a life sentance for the non crime of being an abuse VICTIM! I have had a much longer prison sentance than any of the people at Chadswells Assessment Centre have had. For all I know, those creeps might have changed their names and might be persecuting me now!
I just wish the police would get these people, its not impossible. I know many of them are high up in authority, but they can still be caught and prosecuted.
They latch on to kind hearted people, it looks like that is how Lady Parker got involved, its hard to tell, but good well trained police would be able to unravell the whole sordid thing. Ann Widdecombe is another these creeps have sucked in, she fell for the sob stories of the paedophiles pretending to be hard done by fathers, they played on her emotions. These people are so manipulative, they will do anything to get their hands on kids, and they all work together.
The police can do this, if they want to. I feel scared of Stafford Police because of the way I have been treated, but I have not given up on the integrity of the police, I have met good police and I know there are lots of decent people in the police.Please God, please help them to catch these wicked people who are preying on our children.
1040683 - THE BRITISH FALSE MEMORY SOCIETY
Activities
THE BFMS CONTINUES ITS CORE WORK OF SUPPORTING THE MEMBERSHIP (PEOPLE WHOSE LIVES HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY FALSE MEMORY) AND EDUCATING AND INFORMING PUBLIC, PROFESSIONALS AND MEDIA WHERE APPROPRIATE. SUPPORT INCLUDES THE AVAILABILITY OF THE TELEPHONE HELPLINE, AN AGM, NEWSLETTERS AND REGIONAL MEETINGS.
Where it operates
THROUGHOUT ENGLAND AND WALES
SCOTLAND
Financial summary ! Financial year end (FYE) Income Spending Accounts received Annual Return/Annual Update received View
31 Dec 2009 £103,965 £102,978 16 Sep 2010 16 Sep 2010 Accounts
31 Dec 2008 £115,942 £100,979 07 Sep 2009 07 Sep 2009 Accounts
31 Dec 2007 £130,894 £115,563 12 Sep 2008 12 Sep 2008 Accounts
31 Dec 2006 £126,206 £111,513 19 Sep 2007 19 Sep 2007 Accounts
31 Dec 2005 £118,990 £101,740 15 Aug 2006 15 Aug 2006
Financial Accounts for the
Year ended 31st December 2009
and the Annual Report
of the Trustees
presented at the
Annual General Meeting
27th March 2010
British False Memory Society
Bradford on Avon · Wiltshire · BA15 1NF
Tel: 01225 868682 · Fax: 01225 862251
E-mail: bfms@bfms.org.uk
Registered Charity Number 1040683
Serving People and Professionals
in Contested Allegations of Abuse
BFMS
Contents of the Report and Financial Statements
for the Year ended 31st December 2009
Page no.
1 Aims of the BFMS
2 Report of the Trustees
4 Report of the Chair
5 Report of the Treasurer
6-7 Report of the Independent Auditors
8 Statement of Financial Activities
9 Balance Sheet
10-14 Notes to the Financial Statements
15-16 Detailed Statement of Financial Activities
BFMS
Aims and Objectives
The purposes of BFMS are:
1. BFMS aims to promote accurate differentiation between true and false allegations of
child sexual abuse through raising public, professional and policy maker awareness;
organising conferences and seminars; disseminating relevant information through
newsletters and academic research and assisting the media, where appropriate, to
produce suitable articles and programmes.
2. BFMS incorporates a telephone helpline to support families and individuals affected
by false memory abuse accusations. BFMS also offers advice on access to legal
assistance.
3. BFMS provides information and advice to mental health, welfare, criminal justice and
legal professionals.
4. BFMS aims to improve the understanding of ‘false memory’ by encouraging,
sponsoring, conducting and publishing academic and professional research.
BFMS
Report of the Trustees
for the Year ended 31st December 2009
The trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year
ended 31st December 2009. The trustees have adopted the provisions of the Statement of
Recommended Practice (SORP) ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities’ issued in March
2005.
Reference and Administrative Details
Registered Charity number
1040683
Principal address
The Old Brewery
BRADFORD ON AVON
Wiltshire
BA15 1NF
Trustees
Lady Parker BM BCh Chair of Trustees
B Reed Honorary Treasurer
Mrs S Thompson Secretary
R Oade
Reverend J Young
A Poole
Auditors
Berkeley Hall Marshall Limited
Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditor
6 Charlotte Street
Bath
BA1 2NE
Structure, Governance and Management
Governing document
The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes an
unincorporated charity.
Risk management
The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed
and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against
fraud and error.
Statement of Trustees Responsibilities
The trustees are responsible for preparing the Report of the Trustees and the financial
statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Generally Accepted
Accounting Practice.
BFMS
Report of the Trustees for the
Year ended 31st December 2009
The law applicable to charities in England and Wales, the Charities Act 1993, Charity
(Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed requires the
trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair
view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of
resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charity for that period. In preparing
those financial statements, the trustees are required to:
• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
• observe the methods and principles in the Charity SORP;
• make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
• prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to
presume that the charity will continue in business.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with
reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and to enable them to
ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charity Act 1993, the Charity
(Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also
responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps
for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Report of the Trustees
For the Year Ended 31st December 2009
On Behalf of the Board:
…………………………………….
Trustee
…………………………………….
Date
BFMS
From the Acting Chair of Trustees
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts
Welcome to this our sixteenth Annual General Meeting. My name is Sally Thompson, I am the
Honorary Secretary of the Society’s Trustees and my colleagues on the Board have appointed me
Acting Chair for today. This time last year I performed the same office, as our Chairman, Jill
Parker, was ill. Today I report with great sadness, to those of you who do not already know, that
Jill died on the 11th March after a long illness, an illness she bore with amazing fortitude and
cheerfulness.
Jill Parker was Chairman of the BFMS for fifteen years. During that time the Society’s
knowledge of the causes and effects of false memory and its ability to help its victims has grown
profoundly. While its activities have been spearheaded by our Director, Madeline, I know that
she has relied enormously on the wisdom, support and encouragement of Jill. A GP who took
particular interest in those of her patients struggling to deal with day-to-day life, Jill was well
acquainted with vulnerability and despair, and how those afflicted can be beguiled and mislead by
alternative solutions to their unhappiness. As Trustees we valued her style of leadership. As one
of us wrote on hearing of Jill’s death: “She had a gentle way of leading us, which was very
appropriate. It was backed up by genuine, deep understanding and compassion, coming from her
professional background and personal values.”
Jill’s hope for the Society was that it would eventually not need to exist. But sadly calls for help
from newly accused families continue to be received at a steady rate averaging fifty new cases
each year. These are, of course, just the ones that our staff hear about. We must assume that not
everyone in this situation is brave enough to pick up the telephone and talk to a stranger about the
very sensitive subject of historic accusations of childhood sexual abuse. It’s a hard thing to do.
The whole subject of child abuse is explosive. More and more revelations of serious sexual
assault hit the headlines daily, serving to fuel and heighten the public’s fears and disgust. This in
turn, all too readily leads to denial of the fact that some accusations are false. The BFMS has to
face this fear. We engage in public debate and seek to influence public opinion. As pointed out
by a legal adviser, “the stance of the European Court of Human Rights, is that those who enter the
public arena and contribute on matters of public interest must be especially tolerant of extreme,
unreasonable and even defamatory reactions to their viewpoint”.
The BFMS is a national charity; this sounds rather grand, but, in fact, its work level is officially
dependant upon the output of the equivalent of just one and three-quarters of full time staff. Over
recent years the staff costs have decreased, but in order to meet the increasing demands upon the
Society we have been fortunate to have the voluntary support of many people who are prepared to
be called upon for their expertise, their advice, their writing skills or their willingness to turn their
hand to whatever is asked of them. It is with the invaluable assistance of these volunteers that the
helpline, information packs, the website, the newsletter, the publication of books and pamphlets;
the legal resources, information and reports; the archive of research and academic papers, library
books and the DVDs of television programmes are all available to our members and to
professionals seeking information to do with false memory. We are extremely grateful to all who
have helped us.
There is still so much to do to inform and educate the public about the reality of false accusations
of abuse. Financially, as things stand at the moment, we have only a short time in which to make a
difference. Funders approached in the past year have rejected our calls for support and I suppose
it is not difficult to appreciate their reluctance to attach their colours to our mast. But we must
remain hopeful and optimistic and continue to search for a trust fund which is prepared to make a
stand and support this very important work.
Sally Thompson
BFMS
Treasurer's Report for 2009
In 2009, the Society’s income again experienced a fall to £104,000, compared to £116,000
in 2008 and £131,000 in 2007. The main factors that accounted for the decline were again
reduced income from grants (down £9,000) and bank interest (down £4,000). This was
offset in part by a most welcome increase of £2,000 in donations. The Society remains
very dependent on grants, which, at a total of £79,000, continued to account for 76 % of
its income.
After substantial reduction in the previous year, total operating expenses increased
slightly, rising by £2,000 to a total of £103,000. The main item of expenditure was for
staff and other help, which increased by £3,000 to a total of £72,000 and was incurred in
conducting the Society’s charitable work, as well as generating income and fulfilling its
governance obligations. Other costs were reduced by £1,000.
The net result was still a surplus of £1,000, although that was well down on the £15,000
surpluses achieved in each of the two previous years.
By the end of the year, the further small surplus had boosted unrestricted funds to
£70,000. As a protection against a major shortfall of income in relation to expenditure,
the Society aims to maintain a sufficient amount of unrestricted funds to cover three
months operating cost, excluding depreciation, i.e. about £25,000 in 2009. Hence, the
year-end balance well exceeded that target.
In addition the Society had restricted funds of nearly £4,000, which may be used only for
research and projects.
Although the year-end cash position (£68,000) appeared healthy, it was again £28,000 less
than in the previous year. The Society had been receiving advance payment of grants,
which have all now been drawn out of its cash balance and used to fund its operations.
The Society’s Director and its Trustees are keenly mindful of their duty to safeguard its
financial position. Looking ahead, the Society faces a substantial decline in grant income
and, despite a prudent budget reduction, a funding deficit. Although its unrestricted funds
will cover that deficit for 2010 and 2011, it has to generate new funding in order to
continue even the reduced level of activity beyond that period.
Bernard Reed
Trustee and Honorary Treasurer
Paedophiles can boldly and courageously affirm what they choose. They can say that what they want is to find the best way to love. . . . Paedophiles can make the assertion that the pursuit of intimacy and love is what they choose. With boldness they can say, "I believe this is in fact part of God's will. --Dr. Ralph Underwager in this interview with Paidika,
a European pro-pedophile publication.
Dr. Ralph Underwager earned his masters of Divinity from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, and has been, since 1974, Director of the Institute for Psychological Therapies in Northfield, Minnesota. Besides being a staff psychologist in a clinic, Dr. Underwager has also been a pastor at Lutheran churches in Iowa and Minnesota. He is a member of the National Council for Children's Rights, the American Psychological Association, the Lutheran Academy for Scholarship, and the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, among others.
When are the police going to arrest all the members of the BFMS?
probably never. but its a nice idea. Wehave to wait till they are all dead like jimmy saville and then we can say what we like
I wouldn't be too sure. It appears to be the police chiefs who are at the heart of the corruption.
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