The inquiry commissioner, former Supreme Court Justice Ted Mullighan, said he believed systematic sexual abuse of state wards was continuing.
Mr Mullighan said he was "appalled and horrified" at the results of his three-year Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry, but added they were only the "tip of the iceberg".
The inquiry heard evidence suggesting South Australia's child protection system, "like its counterparts elsewhere in Australia, is in crisis", Mr Mullighan said.
He found the abuse of state wards occurred in every type of care including church institutions, the Salvation Army, government and non-government homes for children and youth shelters and foster homes.
Some foster children were used at pedophile parties for sexual gratification, he said.
Mr Mullighan said there were organised groups of pedophiles preying on, and sexually abusing, foster children.
"I don't think there was any doubt that there was a number of groups of people who were preying on children and abusing them," he told reporters.
"The individual groups themselves were clearly very well organised.
"I would be surprised if it's not still happening."
Premier Mike Rann said he was sickened by Mr Mullighan's 600-page report, tabled in state parliament on Tuesday.
"It turned my stomach, it made me feel physically ill," Mr Rann told reporters.
Mr Mullighan heard from 792 people who said they had been sexually abused by 1,733 alleged perpetrators from the 1930s to the present.
Of those, he determined 242 victims had been in state care at the time of the alleged abuse.
The inquiry referred 170 allegations to police involving 434 perpetrators, with two suspects already arrested and 13 others reported.
"Nothing prepared me for the foul undercurrent of society revealed," Mr Mullighan wrote in his final report.
"I was not prepared for the horror of the sexual cruelty and exploitation of little children and vulnerable young people in state care by people in positions of trust."
The extent of sexual abuse of state wards could never be known, with many adults abused as children in state care not coming forward, he said.
Mr Mullighan said "most of the people who said they disclosed the sexual abuse as children were not believed".
He heard evidence the abuse was perpetrated by people including foster parents, their sons, teachers, priests, social workers and strangers.
Asked how to describe his reaction to the evidence presented to the inquiry, Mr Mullighan told reporters: "I don't know that I could find the right word.
"I was appalled and horrified at the way in which children were exploited and abused and threatened and disempowered, and that they lived for years in that situation without being able to do anything about it.
"One lady disclosed it for the first time at the age of 81, so I don't know what word is the appropriate word to use."
Mr Rann said his government would formally apologise to the abused foster children, adding he believed they should be paid compensation.
Hundreds of victims were expected to now lodge compensation claims with the courts, and others to apply for victims of crime fund compensation.
Mr Mullighan made 54 recommendations including legislating for a charter of rights for children and a review of the training of social workers.
He also called for an extensive media campaign to educate the community on child sexual abuse, with reference to the tactics of pedophiles and others involved in abuse.
The government committed to responding to all recommendations by June 19 this year.
The inquiry was prompted by child sexual abuse within the Anglican Church.
The inquiry stemmed from the SA Police Pedophile Taskforce, originally created in 2003 to deal with child sexual abuse within the Anglican Church in Adelaide.
The taskforce laid child sex charges against Anglican ministers and Anglican foster carers before widening its scope.
The state government in 2004 asked Mr Mullighan to head a Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry, which initially concentrated on the Anglican links.
The inquiry was then widened.
Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide, Jeffrey Driver, said he was "deeply saddened by the extent of abuse" revealed by the Mullighan report.
"I acknowledge, with deep regret, that some of that abuse occurred in institutions run by the Anglican Church in South Australia," he said in a statement.
"Without reservation, I repeat our apology to victims of sexual abuse.
"Sexual abuse is always intolerable.
"When it is perpetrated by a person holding a sacred trust it is particularly repugnant."
Archbishop Driver said the Anglican diocese had changed its ways since the child sex scandal was revealed four years ago.
"We acknowledge the failures of the past," he said.
Source : https://www.smh.com.au › pedo...Pedophiles hurt foster children: report - Sydney Morning Herald
