SOS Children’s Villages to investigate founder abuse allegations

SOS Children’s Villages Austria will invite bids from 1 November for an international academic study of the organisation’s history and abuse allegations against its founder, Hermann Gmeiner, ORF reported on Tuesday.

The two-year study will examine Gmeiner’s role and that of his long-time successor, Helmut Kutin, as well as their influence on the organisation. It will also look at structures of power and dependency, possible networks of perpetrators and people who knew about abuse, and how cases of violence and abuse may have been concealed or prevented from coming to light.

The inquiry will cover Austria, Germany and other countries. SOS Children’s Villages Austria said it would work with SOS Children’s Villages organisations worldwide and SOS Children’s Villages International. An international academic jury will select the research team, and an independent advisory board including academic experts and care leavers will oversee the study.

The organisation said researchers would have unrestricted access to relevant archives and support in contacting witnesses. It promised to publish the findings.

The announcement follows earlier studies commissioned by SOS Children’s Villages into allegations of abuse and mistreatment in Tyrol and Carinthia. The organisation kept those findings private; the scandal became public after the Vienna weekly Falter published them last year.

The new study is part of a reform process launched by SOS Children’s Villages Austria. Supervisory board member Brigitte Lueger-Schuster said an independent investigation of the organisation’s founding history was an important step, adding that “no one is above responsibility”.