A SCOTTISH justice group that has established a new counselling scheme to help victims of child abuse while in care is now leading calls for the creation of a UK-wide agency to aid abused youngsters.

Sacro, the Scottish community justice voluntary organisation, ran the Restorative Justice scheme as part of the Time to be Heard pilot, which allowed former residents of a children's care organisation to recount their abusive experiences with an expert panel.

It is now proposing that it becomes a UK-wide forum to provide help to victims of abuse.

The wider scheme would give hundreds of people who have suffered systematic abuse in more than 100 care institutions in Scotland during the past 70 years a chance to speak out.

Historic cases of child abuse in Scotland include around 100 from charitable homes run by the Quarriers Group and Nazareth, a religious order.

Sacro's final report on its scheme said it gave abused residents the chance to "face up to the ghosts" and get on with the rest of their lives.

Quarriers said the scheme had also allowed the charity to "regain its past".

Sacro admitted the "intensity and pervasiveness of damage and pain" caused by the survivors' childhood experiences were "much greater than that anticipated even by the very experienced group of facilitators".

Of 15 survivors who made contact with the service, seven either withdrew from the process or had no further contact.

Sacro concluded: "We believe the pilot demonstrates that Restorative Justice has considerable potential to provide an additional remedy for adult survivors abused in care as children. Both survivors and the institution were able to treat the Restorative Justice Service as an opportunity to heal and make amends.

"They put their trust in us and in the process to help them achieve very positive outcomes. The courage and determination shown by survivors were remarkable.

"Sacro has developed invaluable experience in planning and implementing interventions in this area. We have both the facilitators and processes available to extend this service to cover other circumstances of residential abuse in Scotland and beyond."

Time to be Heard was inspired in part by an Irish inquiry that uncovered abuse of children in Catholic care homes in Ireland.

Sacro says its innovative process, which is designed to address the personal, moral and emotional aspects of the harm survivors have suffered, is informal and "very different both in style and intention from a trial or a court hearing".

For four of those who contacted the service, "restorative meetings" were organised which resulted in Quarriers committing to ensuring measures are in place to ensure that no future instances of abuse will occur.

It also allowed the victims to have access to all available personal records the organisation had. They also received a formal letter of apology.

Sacro's report added: "There was unanimous agreement that this type of intervention had huge potential in supporting survivors to be heard, receive an apology and feel vindicated."

Quarriers added: "The process as a whole has allowed the charity to regain its past. Prior to this process it was as if the history of Quarriers was so toxically polluted by the historic abuse that we could not own the considerable good that had been done by the charity."