16 Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst Year in Review 2020 Child Protection and the Implementation of the Child safe Standards Ms Anne McIntosh Safeguarding Coordinator Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst LEADERSHIP & STRUCTURE The Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst embraced the necessity of compliance with the 7 Child Safe Standards of the Victorian Commission for Children and Young People, following government recommendations to comply with the standards, effective from 1 January 2017. In June 2019, Catholic Professional Standards Limited (CPSL), an advisory group established by the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and Catholic Religious Australia, finalised the 10 Child Safe National Catholic Safeguarding Standards (NCSS) incorporating the principles of the Victorian Commission for Children and Young People’s 7 Child Safe Standards and expanding them to include recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The National Catholic Safeguarding Standards (NCSS) are in the process of being extended (2nd edition) to incorporate safeguarding requirements for adults. CPSL is now transitioning into the new national body for safeguarding. CPSL operated alongside other agencies which provided support and services on a number of other elements of professional standards and safeguarding systems at a national level. It became apparent that there was a need for one national agency incorporating CPSL, the Australian Catholic Centre for Professional Standards (ACCPS) and oversight of the Australian Catholic Ministry Register (ACMR). The new agency is called Australian Catholic Safeguarding Limited (ACSL) and represents an evolution of safeguarding in the Church. During the transition period all services offered by the previous bodies will continue as planned. I was engaged as the Child Safety Coordinator of the Diocese in February 2017 to ensure that the Diocese and parishes have policies, procedures, risk assessments and training in place to comply with the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards (NCSS). Most parishes have an active Child Safe Team dedicated to child safety and to assist the parish priest in complying with the safeguarding standards. The Child Safety Co-Ordinator has been visiting parishes over the past few years providing assistance and resources to parishes to help comply with the standards. The Diocese provides online safeguarding training courses for all parishes to assist with the training requirements of the NCSS. During the COVID-19 pandemic the visitations to parishes have been stopped and communication has been via email and telephone. The opportunity was taken in this period to ask parishes to nominate volunteers to take part in the Essentials of Safeguarding online training as face-to-face training was not allowed, due to COVID-19 restrictions. The diocesan safeguarding policies and parish information have been updated on the Diocesan website and notified to parishes. Clergy have been overwhelmingly positive in their leadership in child protection activities, such as at the in-service for clergy, which is attended by all parish priests. The Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst is dedicating significant resources to reform in order to apply best practice to prevent child abuse. Audit of the Diocese by CPSL In late 2020 a substantial audit of the Diocese was undertaken by a group called Catholic Professional Standards Limited (CPSL). This group undertook a comprehensive audit of the safeguarding policies and practices of the Diocese, measured against the 7 Child Safe Standards of the Victorian Government and the 10 Child Safe National Catholic Safeguarding Standards. This report will be a public document, available on the CPSL website. “Clergy have been overwhelmingly positive in their leadership in child protection activities ... The Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst is dedicating significant resources to reform in order to apply best practice to prevent child abuse.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTQ0MTI=