Our Commitment to Safeguarding

We acknowledge that the Catholic Church has exposed vulnerable people to harm in the past

CatholicCare upholds a culture and practice of safeguarding to protect every person we serve. The welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults is at the heart of what we do. We expect, enable and empower staff and those in our care to speak up, share positive feedback, make a complaint and report abuse and neglect. We take any concern seriously and respond accordingly. We listen and value the insights from the children, young people and adults we support.

CatholicCare welcomes the release of the ten National Catholic Safeguarding Standards, which are in line with the Child Safe Standards identified by the Royal Commission, and the National Principles of a Child Safe Organisation. CatholicCare embeds safeguarding at the core of all our services, and we use the standards to support our ongoing commitment to the safety and wellbeing of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

On 1 February 2022, the NSW Child Safe Scheme commenced. These Standards are a key recommendation from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. We welcome the start of this scheme and have started implementing the Child Safe Standards to make our services even safer for your children. We know that this requires strong leadership and sustained, collective effort and action. We believe all organisations working with children should be child safe, and we want to provide children the environment and care they deserve. A good overview of the Standards is provided here. Feel free to reach out to us to discuss different ways that we can improve our practice and culture to keep children safe.

In addition to these measures, CatholicCare is subject to a rigorous external audit of its services by a range of regulatory agencies, which includes demonstration of compliance with safeguarding and quality requirements.

If you require assistance, support or have a safeguarding concern please contact Angela Thomas, Manager for Safeguarding on (02) 9481 2683 or via email angela.thomas@catholiccaredbb.org.au.

Bishop Anthony’s safeguarding message can be viewed here.