The survivors of childhood abuse in care were yesterday promised "truth and reconciliation". Most welcomed the truth. Some rejected the reconciliation.

The Scottish Government announced a special forum where victims can tell their stories and, perhaps, come to terms with their experiences.

As first revealed by The Herald last year, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission will be set up, a body that will expose abuse but not punish abusers.

It was unveiled in the Scottish Parliament yesterday, by children's minister Adam Ingram.

"We are considering good practice examples for taking forward a forum to give survivors the chance to speak about their experiences to help come to terms with the past," Mr Ingram told MSPs. "This will provide an invaluable opportunity to establish the facts, learn from the suffering and use the experience to help us protect and provide for children in the future."

Support groups have long campaigned for a place where their stories can be told. But they remained split on Mr Ingram's proposal.

David Whelan, a victim of abuse, said: "You're always going to have a difficulty with reconciliation. Most paedophiles will not accept that they have committed a crime."

He wants to see as many cases as possible go through criminal and civil courts, where the stories of accused individuals and their alleged victims will be, in his view, properly scrutinised.

Other survivors, however, said what they wanted most was to hear their stories told, so that the lessons could be learned. The dispute between the two sides has become so heated that some victims are accusing others of embellishing their suffering.

Helen Holland said that it was far from clear exactly what the truth and reconciliation forum would do. "The devil will be in the detail," she said.

Elizabeth McWilliams, a campaigner is ready to accept the scheme, with one proviso: "I want to come face to face with people across a table," she said.

Scotland looks unlikely to follow other nations in paying mass compensation to victims. The Scottish Law Commission has rejected calls for time-bar rules on historic abuse cases to be relaxed.

Mr Ingram said: "The key issue as far as survivors of abuse is concerned is that they are able to relay their experience and have it recognised."

Former First Minister Jack McConnell formally apologised to people who had been abused in care. Nobody knows how many children were physically and sexually abused in homes in the second half of the last century.

The most recent scandal was at Kerelaw, an Ayrshire residential school run by Glasgow City Council. Investigators believe 40 members of staff at Kerelaw physically or sexually abused young people in their care. Only two have been successfully prosecuted.

An independent inquiry has been commissioned into what happened at Kerelaw. There will be no other inquiries into historic abuse, Mr Ingram said.