Church Transparency Key to Protecting Children

By David Cappo
Eureka Street
March 5, 2012

http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=30375

[with video]

The report of the Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children Inquiry is being read by many people, not only in Victoria but throughout Australia. It is a report par excellence that raises the benchmark on the work of government and community service organisations in the protection of vulnerable children.

The three authors, Philip Cummins, Dorothy Scott and Bill Scales have made a contribution to the needs of vulnerable children in Australia that demands firstly our deep gratitude to them, secondly implementation of their report by the Victorian Government, and thirdly the attention of the Commonwealth Government as well as other state governments.

A new and high benchmark has been set with a clear plan presented to achieve it. Our positive response to the report is our civic duty.

My interest was drawn to this report particularly because of my work in social inclusion and as a social worker in the 1970s in the City of Elizabeth, working in the child protection system of the South Australian government, as well as my role in the mid 1990s coordinating the developing of the Towards Healing document and the Integrity in Ministry document for the Catholic Church in Australia.

This new report is not simply about Victoria's statutory child protection system. It gives 90 recommendations and additional findings to reform the various systems that connect with vulnerable children. This is where its strength lies; it is about a total systems reform and the development of a preventative strategy and high level interventions to respond to increasing levels of need.

It understands the interconnectedness of issues such as family violence, alcohol and other substance misuse, mental health problems, intellectual disability, parental history of abuse and situational stress. And it understands that the response to these issues must also be interconnected.

Much is said of the need for a decentralised focus on services for vulnerable children, the setting up of Area Reference Committees and the co-location of services. This report is refreshing in its clarity about where roles and responsibilities for child protection and the care of vulnerable children lay.

It says 'the relationship between community service organisations and the Victorian Government should be viewed as a long term collaboration, not from a joint partnership perspective. This long term relationship should be based on a model that recognises that the Victorian Government is ultimately responsible to the Victorian people for the overall policy leadership and accountability for the structure and performance of the child, youth and family support and service system.'

In a very balanced and careful manner, the report affirms the role played by community organisations in child protection, suggests that there are some gaps in performance in some government and community agencies, and reaffirms the importance of accountability, monitoring and evaluation.

It points to the need for building the capacity of both government agencies and community organisations and the provision of more adequate funding mechanisms. My sense is that the report is indirectly offering a moment in time for some community organisations that are no longer able to cope with the increased complexity of child protection issues to now leave this field to others.

The issue of mandatory reporting always produces much debate in the community, although it should be clear to most how important it is to have a broad based mandatory reporting system. Dealing with the increased reporting that a broad based system produces is in part what this report addresses.

Of particular interest to churches in Victoria is the recommendation that would require a minister of religion and 'a person who holds an office within, is employed by, is a member of, or a volunteer of a religious or spiritual organisation that provides services to, or has regular contact with, children and young people' to report 'a reasonable suspicion' of physical or sexual abuse of a child or young person under 18. The sacrament of Confession is exempt.

Such mandatory reporting for clergy and church personnel is already in place in South Australia. It should be in place in all jurisdictions throughout Australia. I trust the churches in Victoria will embrace this recommendation. It is about a commitment to transparency. And it is about a further public commitment by all churches to child protection and minimising risk for children. Any equivocation on accepting this recommendation would be viewed with disdain by the general community.