The Integrity and Professional Standards Team is part of the newly established Integrity and Safeguarding Department of the archdiocese. The team plays an important role in abuse prevention, risk assessment, risk mitigation, and the provision of appropriate protective responses to reports of abuse or misconduct, particularly those relating to children, young people, and adults at risk. 

Its role is to receive, assess, and respond to all reports relating to alleged abuse, harm, or misconduct, both current and historical, within parishes and communities. In this process, the safety and well-being of children, young people, and adults at risk is the priority. 

Key focus areas include:

• the management of current persons of risk within parishes and communities
• the delivery of just, ethical, and sensitive responses to victims and survivors of historical allegations of abuse, and
• the appropriate management of reports relating to current boundary violations.  

All safeguarding-related reports are received and assessed by the team with interventions tailored according to the particular circumstances of each notification. Responses are under-pinned by trauma-informed principles, as well as those relating to procedural fairness and natural justice. The team initiates high-level investigations and undertakes robust risk assessment and risk mitigation interventions where necessary. 

The National Redress Scheme is for people who experienced child sexual abuse while in an institution. The Scheme helps people access redress and can connect them to free confidential Redress Support Services.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide is a member of the scheme which was established in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The scheme commenced operations on July 1st, 2018, and will run for 10 years. 

Redress is an alternative to seeking compensation through the courts. The scheme can provide three things:

• access to counselling
• a payment
• a direct personal response, such as an apology

The National Response Protocol is a framework for Catholic entities across Australia to respond consistently to people raising concerns or allegations of child abuse. The National Response Protocol outlines principles and procedures for Church personnel to follow that are trauma informed, sensitive, confidential, respectful, and just. These principles prioritise the safety and well-being of victims and survivors within a culture of harm prevention. 

The National Response Protocol was adopted by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) and came into effect for all dioceses and ACBC member entities from 1 February 2021.

The National Response Protocol replaces Towards Healing which ceased to be effective as of 1 January 2022.

Integrity in our Common Mission is a National Code of Conduct for those exercising pastoral ministry in the dioceses of the Catholic Church in Australia. These include bishops, priests, deacons, seminarians, religious, lay men, and lay women who are exercising a pastoral ministry in the name of the diocese, its parishes and agencies. This pastoral ministry may be by appointment or may be exercised in a voluntary capacity. It provides a framework to be applied to a variety of settings, experiences, relationships, and pastoral engagements in daily ministry. 

The principles in Integrity in Our Common Mission have been developed to guide, form, strengthen, and affirm those behaviours which are expected of all engaged in the ministries of the Church: in parish and sacramental life, education, health and community services, pastoral care, social welfare support, and the variety of other ministries to which people of faith are called.