“We need to see each child as a gift to be welcomed, cherished, and protected.” - Pope Francis

The Safeguarding Operations Team is one part of the Integrity & Safeguarding Department within the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide.

The functions of the service area include:

• Delivery of safeguarding training for all Clergy, Religious, employees, and volunteers
• Screening, verification, and monitoring of Working with Children Check compliance in accordance with legislative requirements.
• Delivery of the Safe Environments for All Program (SEFA) across all parishes and Catholic multicultural communities 
• Development of safeguarding resources 
• Provision of ongoing support and education relating to risk prevention, cultures of safety, and safeguarding strategies 

Reporting Suspicion of Harm and Risk of Harm to Authorities:

If you are worried about the immediate safety of a child, young person, or vulnerable adult, call 000

If you are reporting any form of sexual abuse, call South Australia Police (SAPOL): 131 444

If you believe a child or young person is or has experienced harm, abuse or neglect, or is at risk of harm, call the Department for Child Protection Child Abuse Report Line (CARL) on: 13 14 78

If you believe an adult is or has experienced abuse or neglect, or is at risk of harm, contact the Adult Safeguarding Unit | SA Health on 1800 372 310

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Reporting Suspicions of Harm to the Integrity and Safeguarding Department:

If your concern relates to the safety or well-being of a child, young person, or vulnerable adult in your parish and/or to the actions (historical or current) of a member of your parish such as a priest, employee, volunteer, or member of a religious order, you are also required to make a report to the Integrity and Professional Standards Team: Ph 8210 8150

For more information about mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse, neglect, or risk of harm, please refer to our mandatory reporting page here

For more information about adult safeguarding and reporting, please refer here

If you have a query about our safeguarding programs (such as SEFA), our safeguarding training, and/or our screening services and requirements (previously SAVA), you can telephone us on: 08 8210 8150

If you prefer to send us an email, please contact us using the following email addresses: 

• For all safeguarding, SEFA, and training enquiries, please send an email to:
  caasafeoperations@adelaide.catholic.org.au
   
• For all enquiries about screening requirements (previously SAVA), please send an email to:
  receptionsava@adelaide.catholic.org.au

The National Catholic Safeguarding Standards provide a framework for Catholic entities to promote cultures of safety and build safeguarding capacity with a particular focus on children, young people, and vulnerable adults. Their intent is to foster a protective Church culture in which everyone is safe and all Church personnel share safeguarding responsibility through the implementation of policies and activities to prevent, respond to, and report concerns regarding harm and abuse. The standards are designed to be implemented in all Catholic entities, ministries, and organisations across Australia. They also help to drive cultural and behavioural change relating to safeguarding and to promote accountability and transparency of Catholic Church leaders and their ministries and entities.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide is committed to implementing and adhering to the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards with a view to maximising safeguarding cultures across the archdiocese.  

You can find the 10 National Catholic Safeguarding Standards on the ACSL website on this link: acsltd.org.au 

There are also the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, developed in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and endorsed by members of the Council of Australian Governments in 2019. The National Principles aim to provide a nationally consistent approach to creating organisational cultures that foster child safety and wellbeing across all sectors. This will help to keep children and young people safe and reduce future harm in organisational settings. The National Catholic Safeguarding Standardsare heavily reflective of the National Principles.

You can read more about the National Principles here: https://childsafe.humanrights.gov.au/national-principles