Page 106 - When Things Go Wrong

There are a lot of assumptions made about the experiences of families
within inquiry processes with no underpinning evidence. These
assumptions are typically made by (senior) professionals who may base
them on their own understanding of how things should be. Embedded
within these well-meaning assumptions are clichés, judgements and often
a good dose of patronising. A key assumption is catharsis and I find it
bewildering and disconcerting that the experience of giving evidence in
an enquiry process, being forced to re-live and revisit unspeakably
traumatic events and be questioned (or even interrogated) about them is
seen as somehow positive.

6.35 Nevertheless, inquests and inquiries should seek to promote clarity for those
affected by catastrophic events, both through their findings, and through the
way in which they treat bereaved people and survivors. An entirely voluntary
mechanism that appears to have served a cathartic function is IICSA’s Truth
Project. 303 This facility allows survivors to share their story in a confidential,
secure environment. The Working Party understands that the Project has
received a 98% satisfaction rate from its users, many of whom disclose that the
project represents the first time they have felt listened to by someone in
authority since suffering abuse, often several decades prior. The Truth Project
does not form part of the evidential base for the inquiry hearings but is used to
produce an aggregated and anonymised statistical pool.

6.36 INQUEST’s Family Listening Days, including the Grenfell Consultation cited
a number of times in this report, provide another forum for bereaved and
survivor testimony. These reflective events also “offer public bodies,
policymakers and other bereavement-focused organisations the opportunity to
hear directly from family members about the circumstances surrounding a
person’s death in detention/custody, or in a similarly contentious
circumstance” 304 but without the pressure of the formal process and constraint
of giving evidence. There is a particular emphasis on hearing families'
recommendations for improving current practice.

303 See IICSA website, ‘The Truth Project’.

304 See INQUEST website, ‘Family Listening Days’.
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