SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN IN THE DIOCESE OF KILMORE
Launch of Handbook on 4 June 2009
Address by Bishop Leo O’Reilly
I welcome you all here this evening. This launch marks an important stage on our ongoing work in the diocese of ensuring that children and young people are safe in our Church community and organisations. Ministry to children is central to our pastoral mission to spread the Good News of Jesus. A key element of this ministry is valuing and encouraging the participation of children in parish and diocesan activities. Our policy, published today, is a tangible expression of our commitment to safeguard children throughout the diocese. I wish to assure young people and their parents and guardians that the Church in Kilmore is a safe environment for children. They will find it a welcoming, positive and encouraging place to worship, meet and work with others.
When this launch was being planned we did not know that it would take place in the aftermath of the publication of the Ryan Report on abuse of children in Church institutions. The horrific stories told there and the immense suffering of so many children in those institutions are a stark warning about what can happen when children are not valued and where there are no structures and procedures in place to ensure the safety of children. Where there is no accountability, even those with the highest motives and ideals can stoop to terrible deeds.
I wish to express once again my profound regret for the abuse perpetrated by priests and religious against children wherever or whenever it happened. This was a shameful betrayal of a sacred trust. I said in my statement in response to the Ferns Report four years ago that I had the hope that together we could look forward to a better future in the Church where child protection is paramount. Despite the dark cloud of the Ryan Report just published and the impending publication of the report on abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin, I do think that a better future is now in the process of becoming a reality. This is as result of the hard work and commitment of the members of the Diocesan Safeguarding Children Committee and the many people throughout the 36 parishes of the diocese who implement our policy.
There is a great sense of achievement in seeing the fruit of many years’ work, by a great variety of people, being fine-tuned and compiled in this handbook.
Our guiding principles are outlined here; our concern is to value, encourage and affirm young people in a safe environment. Safeguarding children is everybody’s responsibility but people who work with children and young people in Church ministries have a special duty of care. Ultimately we are promoting an ethos and an approach, which give paramount consideration to the child and young person.
The safeguarding children procedures outlined in this handbook involve informed parental consent, appropriate supervision and a code of conduct for all adults working on behalf of the church and for young people. Going hand in hand with procedures is documentation, which confirms and records activities.
Confidentiality is important in all matters and will be maintained. But it will not be allowed to compromise the safety of any child. So should an allegation or disclosure be made or a suspicion, or a concern about children’s safety arise, a report will be forwarded to the relevant civil and statutory authorities.
As well as having policies and procedures in place for working with children, we have introduced recruitment procedures to advertise, shortlist, interview and appoint all Church volunteers and employees. This is an important coming together of priest, chair of pastoral council and safeguarding children representative to ensure that the personnel involved in church activities are recruited in a manner that minimises the risk of engaging someone who might pose a threat to children.
We have included a Safety Statement that will ensure a safer and more secure environment for all. Related to this is the Anti-bullying Policy, which upholds the right of all to work and recreate in an environment that is free from intimidation of any kind. We are well aware that with new technology come opportunities to do great good and also the opposite. So the Policy Statement relating to Computer and Internet use is timely. It is about promoting the responsible use of a wonderful resource and at the same time being vigilant that harm does not come to anyone.
One of the well-founded criticisms of the past is that complaints were not taken seriously enough. This document outlines steps to prevent conflict and, should it arise, to deal with it in a fair and effective way. If allegations of abuse arise against church personnel then this policy sets out the steps to be taken in reporting it to the Gardaí / PSNI or HSE / HSCE.
Once again I thank the Diocesan Safeguarding Children Committee for the tremendous amount of work they have put into planning, developing and delivering safeguarding policies and procedures in our diocese. I also thank the Safeguarding Co-ordinator for the diocese, Sr. Suzie Duffy, who along with Lucy Uí Mhórdha, have delivered many hours of training to our priests and to our child safeguarding representatives from the parishes. I acknowledge the generosity and enthusiasm of the parish safeguarding representatives who, along with the clergy, ensure that polices and procedures are explained and implemented. You are the people on the ground on whom we depend to see to it that these policies and procedures are translated into good practice. I thank you for your time and hard work in carrying out this important task. I thank our Designated Persons, Fr. Anthony Fagan and Fr. Seán Mawn, who are there to receive complaints. I thank our Support Persons who are available to help those who make a complaint or are the subject of one. I also thank the members of the Advisory Panel, whose role is to advise me in responding to complaints. The Gardaí and the HSE have given invaluable advice and support all along in our endeavours to ensure that we provide a safe environment for working with children and young people. And, finally, I thank Mr. Ian Elliott and the National Office for their unfailing support and advice.
I am very happy to launch this booklet that contains our policy on safeguarding children. All church personnel are expected to follow the procedures. While it is important to launch this policy it is also important to say that it is not the final word, there will never be a final word because safeguarding children is an ongoing process involving planning, policy development, review, audit and continual implementation and improvement.
A lot has been achieved over the last thirteen years or so in this diocese in regard to safeguarding children and addressing the concerns of parents and people generally. This is not an end point of a process but one important stage on what is and will be an ongoing feature of Church life – ensuring that our children are safe. It will be characterised by reflection on practice, a willingness to seek, give and receive advice, a welcome for audit and evaluation and a willingness to make adjustments where necessary. Our aim is to have our procedures as good as they possibly can so that children and young people and their parents and guardians can have confidence in our ministry to children and young people in the diocese of Kilmore.
