The Victorian government says it failed boys taken into homes run by the Salvation Army, including those who were sexually and physically abused.
Department of Health and Human Services official Alan Hall has told a royal commission he wanted to acknowledge the pain and suffering felt by those boys abused during their time in the homes at Box Hill and Bayswater in Melbourne.
"I want it to be clear that the department had a clear responsibility for oversight of those homes and it clearly did not do enough," Mr Hall told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Adelaide on Thursday.
"We should have visited more, we should have been there much more for the times that you wanted someone to talk to."
The commission has taken considerable evidence while in Adelaide from a number of witnesses who outlined the years of abuse they suffered as young boys while residents at the Box Hill and Bayswater homes.
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Mr Hall said they were to be commended for the courage they showed in talking about their experiences.
"That helps ensure that all of us will do everything we can to make sure that these sorts of events don't happen again in the future," he said.
