The Independent Jersey Care Inquiry recommended that Jersey should find a way to acknowledge the children and young people who were failed by the Island's child care system.
Developing ideas
During May and June 2018, a group of Islanders come together to form a citizens panel. The panel were asked to develop ideas for a memorial, or another appropriate way for Jersey to remember.
The panel met for five days to explore different types of memorial. Before refining their ideas, panel members worked with academics and voluntary sector leaders from the UK and Australia with experience of memorials and other responses to traumatic events.
The panel's final recommendations were presented to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday 4 July 2018.
We appointed an independent organisation to run this process.
Legacy project recommendations
The citizens panel recommended that the legacy should include four key elements:
- creation of a memorial
- recognising 3 July each year as Jersey Children's Day
- help and support for victims/survivors and their families
- an emblem linking the elements of the legacy together
The panel also produced criteria that each element of the legacy should meet. Full details of the process followed by the citizens panel, their recommendations and criteria are presented in the 2018 report about this process.
Jersey Citizens Panel 2018 four memorial recommendations - Final Report
Delivering the legacy project
The citizens panel worked with the Government of Jersey and other key partners to support delivery of the legacy project for three years. The citizens panel process came to an end in November 2021. In March 2022, the panel published its final report, which considers their work and progress in delivering the legacy project.
Jersey Citizens Panel 2021 - Final Report
2020 Care Memorial project
The 2020 Care Memorial project was intended to secure the citizens panel's first legacy recommendation.
In late 2020 a decision was taken to pause the proposed Care Memorial project due to concerns voiced by survivors. This followed the launch of an open tender process in February 2020 and the public exhibition of shortlisted designs in October 2020.
During this pause, the Citizens Panel and other survivors worked together to share their views and to reimagine a way for Jersey to remember.
Survivor statement September 2021
In September 2021, the survivor group announced that their work together had resulted in the unanimous agreement of a way forward:
"We are all in agreement that it is essential that we are able to remember what happened and to both have the chance to look forward and back. We are in agreement that we must have:
- A place to go to remember and reflect on what happened. This new space should be both accessible and also avoidable. We believe that this place should not be at the Weighbridge and should not be any of the previous designs.
- There must be a permanent public apology including a statement of failure from the government
"It is essential that these two elements are delivered by an organisation independent of government, led by survivors. The further design of these important spaces should now be led by an independent group of survivors and others.
"As survivors we have worked hard to listen to each other and find a way forward. We believe our path forward demonstrates unity and strength. We hope others will support us in our journey to remember and remind."
Following this statement, the Care Memorial project was formally closed.
Looking ahead
Work to progress the remaining elements of the legacy is now being taken forward by a survivor-led steering group. Updates about this work will be shared later in 2022.
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