Fresh Start Foundation ‘spreading hate’, say CSA survivors

Back in January, we noted that the Scottish “Fresh Start Foundation”, which bills itself as a voluntary organisation devoted to “CSA support, recovery, seeking truth & justice”, seemed to be attacking genuine survivors of sexual abuse, while pushing their own SRA-based agenda.

The “Fresh Start Foundation”, much like Belinda McKenzie’s “Knight Foundation”, is not a registered charity, by the way; it just sounds like one.

(There is one “Fresh Start Foundation” currently registered with the UK Charity Commission, but it operates in Gambia, helping children stay in school by providing books, uniforms, school fees, and so forth.)

In January, we noted that the Scottish version of the Fresh Start Foundation had launched unprovoked attacks against Daniel Wolstencroft, founder of ShatterboysUK and consultant to the IICSA, as well as against Sheva Burton, who our readers will know is a passionate advocate on behalf of child sexual abuse survivors.

More complaints about the FSF

Yesterday we noted that John “Butlincat” Graham had shared on Facebook an email from a child sexual abuse campaigner named Dave Sharp. Butlincat prefaced the post, “Doesn’t Andy Peacher promote this organisation?”

I understand that you are part of Fresh Start Foundation and I am contacting you to let you know that I have now contacted the police.

I have made it clear many times that I do not want you people contacting me and as a survivor of historical child abuse I am not happy that you continue to contact me with all your hate filled messages and I have told you many times I do not want to have anything to do with you. Please stop contacting me.

People are now comparing you people to ISIS because of the way you are going round the country spreading your hate and any chance you have of making anyone in the establishment scared of you is fading more and more each day and people are now laughing at you.

You guys now have a new nickname which is Fresh Fart Foundation because you stink and your roadshows are a joke but at the same time you are sending fear across many survivors and this seriously has to be looked into.

I said months ago in an email I sent to you people that your ignorance and arrogance was staggering. Now it is starting to frighten people. You clearly have no understanding of survivors needs or welfare.

There is now deep concern among survivors at the way you are connecting with other survivors and this now has to be looked into at government level and this morning I have called and spoke to Jenny Hamilton and requested a meeting with someone from the Scottish government to ask for more protection for survivors at your meetings.

It is now common knowledge that you have successfully managed to infiltrate Wellbeing Scotland and are freely turning up at meetings where there are extremely vulnerable survivors of historical abuse and I have spoke to the lady running the Kilmarnock hub who has told me that she had no idea who you were and that you people made all the survivors feel very uncomfortable because their key worker had left and you people were alone with survivors. I have been told that the key worker also felt very uncomfortable with you being there. The lady from that group who gave someone from Fresh start foundation her phone number at a previous meeting has been warned to be very careful. She is an extremely vulnerable lady and I can tell you that she is being supported and watched very carefully not by Wellbeing Scotland but by survivors.

The group have also seen your you tube video in Inverness and are very aware of your intentions to “build them up” There is a name for this. It is called grooming and Irene has told me that she is willing to speak with the police if asked. We the survivors of historical child abuse in Scotland will do everything we can to stop you people getting anywhere near any more survivors.

Dave Sharp
Child abuse survivor and campaigner.

Mr Sharp’s allegations are most interesting. He draws attention to “the way you are connecting with other survivors”: what does this mean, exactly?

We do know that the FSF’s stated purpose is to promote the “Satanic ritual abuse” agenda.

Several weeks ago, the FSF began a series of “hearings” in its “Peoples Independent Child Abuse Inquiry Scotland”. We’d heard rumours that at least one prominent FSF board member was threatening to withdraw from the organisation because they had failed to earn enough money selling DVDs at the “Inquiry’s” hearings; and of course, we know that while Andy Peacher was a board member in the FSF’s early days, he’s now either withdrawn or been shown the door.

However, there seems to be a dearth of information on the actual Inquiry, other than some rather unedifying videos on the FSF YouTube channel, which feature speakers such as Robert Green and David Scott of UK Column, talking about the horrors of SRA.

Mr Sharp raises the issue of FSF “infiltration” of Wellbeing Scotland, which we have previously addressed here; in fact, Janine Rennie, who runs Wellbeing Scotland, is deeply involved with the FSF.

One would think that an organisation which pretends to have as its mandate “helping child sexual abuse victims & survivors to achieve Truth & Justice and to support their recovery” would be just a bit more responsive to the concerns of sexual abuse survivors.

Seeing their attacks on Danny and Sheva, and now hearing that a group of survivors has had to call the police to protect them from the group, it’s hard to imagine that the group is anything other than an attempt to promote a particular conspiranoid viewpoint, and possibly earn a bit of pocket change whilst doing so.