The Integrity and Professional Standards Team
Our Commitment
The Catholic Church in Australia and the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide acknowledge with great sorrow the hurt caused by the past abuse of children within the Church and the lifelong impact of this abuse upon victims, survivors, and their families. The Church also deeply regrets past failures to believe and support children and to respond appropriately with a protective focus. In this spirit, the Integrity and Professional Standards Team is committed to the provision of a just, respectful, and compassionate response to victims and survivors of historical abuse and, importantly, to the prevention of such situations from ever reoccurring in the future.
The Integrity and Professional Standards Team
Safeguarding Reports and Complaint Management
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
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
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
National Code of Conduct - The Catholic Church in Australia
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.
Vox Estis Lux Mundi -The Pope's Apostolic Letter
Reporting of child sexual abuse by clerics, bishops, and religious.
Vos Estis Lux Mundi (VELM) VELM is a decree issued by Pope Francis in May 2019. It was initially implemented on an experimental basis for a three-year period prior to becoming fully operational in Canon Law in April 2023.
Its purpose is to require allegations of sexual abuse occurring from 1 June 2019 against minors and vulnerable adults committed by: clerics, members of institutes of consecrated life (priests, sisters and brothers), members of societies of apostolic life (lay and ordained), as well as Bishops and other leaders, to be reported to authorities and to be dealt with according to due process in order to ensure justice for the victims and safeguarding of the common good.