Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers, which usually uses the

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

F.A.C.T., is a

voluntary organisation A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteers, to form a body (or organization) to ac ...

set up in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

to support carers, teachers, and other professionals who have been

falsely accused A false accusation is a claim or allegation of wrongdoing that is untrue and/or otherwise unsupported by facts. False accusations are also known as groundless accusations or unfounded accusations or false allegations or false claims. They can occur ...

and/or wrongly convicted of abuse or misconduct; and to campaign for improvements in investigative practice and for reform of the

criminal justice system Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

. The organisation developed from support groups for those accused of abusing children in the residential care system. The first group was set up in

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

in 1992, to support those accused of abuse as part of the

North Wales child abuse scandal The North Wales child abuse scandal was the subject of a three-year, £13 million investigation into the physical and sexual abuse of children in care homes in the counties of Clwyd and Gwynedd, in North Wales, including the Bryn Estyn childre ...

. F.A.C.T. itself was set up in late 1999, following allegations of abuse made across

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

, notably at the St George's School in

Formby Formby is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 22,419 at the 2011 Census. Historically in Lancashire, three manors are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 under "For ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

, where one of those accused and later cleared of all charges was football manager Dave Jones.F.A.C.T.: Our Origins
Accessed 8 November 2012 Several other local groups later merged with it to form a national organisation. F.A.C.T. has submitted evidence to several inquiries into child abuse and the criminal justice system. In 2005, Wrexham Council refused permission for a conference, arranged by F.A.C.T. and at which cultural historian Richard Webster was to have been the main speaker, to be held at the former Bryn Estyn children's home. In November 2012 the organisation criticised what it called "false allegations and wrongful convictions" in relation to the North Wales child abuse scandal. F.A.C.T., ''"Witchhunt" claims against Bryn Estyn false, say care workers'', 7 November 2012
Accessed 8 November 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falsely Accused Carers and Teachers 1999 establishments in England Sexual abuse advocacy and support groups Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom

See also

References