Child sex abuse charity rejects Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby’s Christmas donation
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The Children’s Society’s head said the charity ‘respectfully decided’ not to accept the donation as it was inconsistent with the group’s values. A major children’s charity has rejected a Christmas donation from the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury saying that doing so would not be consistent with its work in supporting victims of child sexual abuse.
Earlier this week Justin Welby – who will officially quit in early January over failures in handling a Church of England abuse scandal – sent an annual e-card for the festive season, and said he was making a donation to The Children’s Society. A message accompanying the card from Mr Welby and his wife Caroline noted that the charity “works with children affected by criminal and sexual exploitation, abuse” and other issues.
But the charity announced on Friday that it had “respectfully decided” not to accept the donation. Mark Russell, the organisation’s chief executive, said: “After careful consideration, we have respectfully decided not to accept the donation offered by the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury.
“The Children’s Society is deeply committed to supporting the survivors of abuse, our teams support victims of child sexual abuse, and this means that accepting this donation would not be consistent with the principles and values that underpin our work.”.
