Kendall House Review Report
Update June 2018
Click here to see our progress tracker. This document details how the Diocese of Rochester is progressing with the recommendations of the Kendall House Review Panel.
Update December 2016:
Following the publication of the Kendall House Review report earlier this year, the Dioceses of Rochester and Canterbury wanted to ensure that any former residents who had not contributed to it, were given an opportunity to record their experiences. The Kendall House Review Addendum is the result of those conversations with the Review Panel and should be read alongside the original report.
Kendall House Review Report
Kendall House Addendum to Main Report, November 2016
Statement from the Review Panel
In response to the Addendum Report, The Rt Rev James Langstaff, Bishop of Rochester, issued the following statement:
“Following the publication of the Kendall House Review, the Diocese of Rochester felt it important to give those former residents who had not been able to participate in the Review the opportunity to share their experiences. The Addendum to the Kendall House Review is the result. We are very grateful to all of the women who courageously came forward to tell their stories, and we recognise how challenging that was. The Diocese would like to thank all of the former residents who have participated and we apologise unreservedly to them for the hurt and distress caused to them. Rochester Diocese has recently commissioned an independent audit of all of our safeguarding structures and resources in the light both of the Kendall House review and of current national guidance. We will be working on the recommendations of this audit over the coming weeks.”
The Rt Rev Trevor Willmott has also issued a statement:
“The Addendum to the Kendall House Report makes for difficult but essential reading. Bishop James and I are hugely grateful to the women who have come forward – both for the original report and the addendum – for their courage in sharing their stories. They have done this so that we may learn the lessons of the past and we want to assure them that we have fully resolved to do so. I would like to echo Bishop James' apology to them for the pain they have suffered. Both dioceses have already made significant progress in responding to the recommendations of the original report and we take the new recommendations very seriously as well. We are deeply committed to creating safer spaces wherever the Church has a presence.”