Ward judgment: High Court findings on Children of God child sexual abuse

Cited record

Sources

Ward, LJ (1995) In re ST (A Minor) (Wardship), High Court of Justice, Family Division, judgment of 19 October 1995 [295-page judgment; full text per the xfamily.org archive mirror]. Available at: xfamily.org (Accessed: 15 July 2026).

The landmark official judicial finding on the Children of God / The Family: after a 75-day hearing, Lord Justice Ward's wardship judgment made formal findings on the movement's history of child sexual abuse, under section headings that include 'THE LEADERS' INVOLVEMENT IN SEXUAL ABUSE'. Founder David Berg had written that children 'should also not be prohibited from mutual sexual examination, experimentation or interplay when playing or sleeping together'. Of the movement's attempt to disown its founder's doctrine, Ward found: 'I find that it was a disingenuous attempt to distance them from their responsibility both for what is and for what was', and of its testimony: 'I regret to find that in many instances there has been a lack of frankness and a failure to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.' Note: Ward also found that the worst practices had been formally abandoned by the time of the 1995 judgment; his findings are historical, and the judgment text is cited from an archive mirror pending a court-authored copy.