{"id":630825,"date":"2025-09-08T11:56:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T15:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/?p=630825"},"modified":"2025-09-08T13:09:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T17:09:40","slug":"for-vermont-survivors-of-orphanage-abuse-the-restorative-justice-process-is-over-the-journey-is-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/2025\/09\/08\/for-vermont-survivors-of-orphanage-abuse-the-restorative-justice-process-is-over-the-journey-is-not\/","title":{"rendered":"For Vermont survivors of orphanage abuse, the restorative justice process is over. The journey is not."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A
A sculptural arbor and stones etched with the words of survivors are part of a new \u201cmemorial healing space\u201d at Burlington\u2019s shuttered St. Joseph\u2019s Orphanage. Photo by Kevin O\u2019Connor\/VTDigger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

BURLINGTON \u2014 Debbie Hazen recalls turning 6 when the nuns who ran the city\u2019s former St. Joseph\u2019s Orphanage locked her in an attic trunk in the early 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey told me there were bats and snakes and spiders in there that were going to get me,\u201d she said of the dark place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hazen never imagined she would eventually find herself outside the orphanage dedicating a \u201cmemorial healing space\u201d for the more than 13,000 children who lived at the Catholic facility from its opening in 1854 to its closing in 1974.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has been a long time coming and quite the journey for all of us,\u201d Hazen, now 70, told a crowd of 100 fellow survivors and supporters Friday. \u201cFor some, this will complete their healing. For others, there\u2019s still much to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The North Avenue memorial, which features a sculptural arbor and stones etched with the words of former orphanage residents, is the final project in a five-year restorative justice process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour voices have been instrumental in shaping our approach to child protection,\u201d Chris Winters, commissioner of the Vermont Department for Children and Families, told survivors. \u201cThis memorial is not just a reminder of the past, but it\u2019s also a symbol of your resilience and of our commitment to a future where every child is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Burlington\u2019s shuttered St. Joseph\u2019s Orphanage is now an apartment building in the Cambrian Rise complex on North Avenue. Photo by Kevin O\u2019Connor\/VTDigger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Former orphanage residents once feared no one would believe their memories of mistreatment, so they didn\u2019t start publicizing their childhood conditions until the 1990s. But authorities didn\u2019t launch an investigation until a 2018 BuzzFeed article<\/a> exposed the full extent of past \u201cunrelenting physical and psychological abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2020, the review confirmed \u201cabuse did occur \u2026 and that many children suffered,\u201d<\/a> although the accusations were too old to pursue criminal charges. To compensate, local and state leaders initiated a \u201crestorative justice inquiry\u201d<\/a> to help former residents push responsible parties to adopt measures \u201cto ensure that these harms never happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working with social service and legal professionals, former residents lobbied for a 2021 state law<\/a> that eliminated time limits on filing civil lawsuits alleging childhood physical abuse \u2014 a success that won them the Vermont Center for Crime Victim Services\u2019 2021 Survivor\/Activist Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the orphanage\u2019s overseers \u2014 the state\u2019s Roman Catholic Diocese, the Sisters of Providence and Vermont Catholic Charities \u2014 would not meet with survivors as a group nor consider requests for childhood records or restitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the inquiry, participants told their stories through several public projects, including two anthologies<\/a>, a Vermont Folklife-supported oral history and traveling exhibition<\/a>, and journalist Christine Kenneally\u2019s 2018 BuzzFeed expos\u00e9 and 2023 follow-up book, \u201cGhosts of the Orphanage.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inquiry organizers also released a 176-page final report<\/a> that summed up<\/a> the restorative justice process as both \u201chelpful and healing\u201d and \u201cdifficult and painful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new memorial rose with help from Burlington\u2019s Department of Parks, Recreation & Waterfront and supporters who donated $160,000. The dedication featured current and former  local and state leaders as well as survivors who came from as far away as Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would like to acknowledge all the unseen victims who have gone unnoticed,\u201d said Debi Gevry, 62, whose father, struggling to care for her and her two siblings, placed them at the orphanage in the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe did so thinking he was doing what was best for his children,\u201d she said in a speech. \u201cOn a mechanic\u2019s wage, he paid for our keep not knowing the suffering we were enduring on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gevry, who said she wasn\u2019t hugged until after leaving at age 12, went on to raise her own family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have yet to heal from the traumas hidden deep in my soul,\u201d she said. \u201cI have unknowingly passed on my fears and anxieties to the next generation. This is just a small example of the ripple effect abuse carries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gevry closed by reading a poem she wrote. Chiseled into a memorial stone, it\u2019s punctuated by the refrain, \u201cWe will be remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI may never be completely whole,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I will not be silenced.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFor some, this will complete their healing,\u201d one said at the dedication of a memorial at Burlington\u2019s shuttered St. Joseph\u2019s Orphanage. \u201cFor others, there\u2019s still much to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1013,"featured_media":630819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-09-08T15:56:43Z","apple_news_api_id":"972ba8ee-e856-4167-b738-fbbd5a81e460","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-09-08T17:09:45Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Alyuo7uhWQWe3OPu9WoHkYA","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"everlit_article_id":"","everlit_hide_embed":false,"everlit_embed_size":"","everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_article_id":"","_everlit_hide_embed":false,"_everlit_embed_size":"","_everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_content_hash":"","_everlit_metadata_hash":"","_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"\u201cFor some, this will complete their healing,\u201d one said at the dedication of a memorial at Burlington\u2019s shuttered St. Joseph\u2019s Orphanage. \u201cFor others, there\u2019s still much to do.\u201d","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[161364,161362,161363,162361,161361],"tags":[26274,33788,35164,806],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"govpack_profile_tax":[],"coauthors":[22931],"class_list":["post-630825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-burlington","category-champlain-valley","category-chittenden-county","category-public-safety","category-regional","tag-chris-winters","tag-st-josephs-orphanage","tag-vermont-catholic-church","tag-vermont-department-for-children-and-families","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nFor Vermont survivors of orphanage abuse, the restorative justice process is over. 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