SAFEGUARDING SURVEY NOVEMBER 2021
The Catholic Church in Glasgow is issuing an extraordinary appeal during the month of November to anyone who may have been affected by any kind of abuse at the hands of clergy or church officials … ‘tell us where we went wrong and how we can do better’.
During the designated month, The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCEI) is conducting an external, independent review of the Archdiocese of Glasgow to hear from people with first-hand experience of how the Archdiocese has responded to reports of abuse.
A spokesman for the Archdiocese said: “This is a genuine attempt to listen and learn. The Social Care Institute is a totally independent body which will conduct this month long audit. The Archdiocese will have no role except to help to publicise that the audit is taking place, and that the external team want to hear directly from abuse survivors.
“The Social Care Institute wants to understand what is happening today and what has gone wrong in the past. They are looking at the responses of people in diocesan roles to knowledge of abuse by clergy or risks posed by clergy and others in Church-related roles, paid or voluntary.
“While the audit will concentrate on the last 5 years, we recommend that anyone who has experience of how we have dealt with abuse claims should speak to SCIE staff directly. Nobody at any level in the Church will be told that they are taking part. What they you tell SCIE will be confidential and will not be shared with the Archdiocese except as part of an overall report which will absolutely not identify any individual.”
Dr Sheila Fish, SCIE Head of Audit and Review, said: “We want to understand what is working well and where there are problems. We want to hear from people with first-hand experience of how people in diocesan roles have responded to disclosures of abuse or sharing of concerns.”
When the work has been completed the Archdiocese will publish the report and copies will be made available to survivors.
During the designated month, The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCEI) is conducting an external, independent review of the Archdiocese of Glasgow to hear from people with first-hand experience of how the Archdiocese has responded to reports of abuse.
A spokesman for the Archdiocese said: “This is a genuine attempt to listen and learn. The Social Care Institute is a totally independent body which will conduct this month long audit. The Archdiocese will have no role except to help to publicise that the audit is taking place, and that the external team want to hear directly from abuse survivors.
“The Social Care Institute wants to understand what is happening today and what has gone wrong in the past. They are looking at the responses of people in diocesan roles to knowledge of abuse by clergy or risks posed by clergy and others in Church-related roles, paid or voluntary.
“While the audit will concentrate on the last 5 years, we recommend that anyone who has experience of how we have dealt with abuse claims should speak to SCIE staff directly. Nobody at any level in the Church will be told that they are taking part. What they you tell SCIE will be confidential and will not be shared with the Archdiocese except as part of an overall report which will absolutely not identify any individual.”
Dr Sheila Fish, SCIE Head of Audit and Review, said: “We want to understand what is working well and where there are problems. We want to hear from people with first-hand experience of how people in diocesan roles have responded to disclosures of abuse or sharing of concerns.”
When the work has been completed the Archdiocese will publish the report and copies will be made available to survivors.
The Independent Review Group initiated independent audits of all dioceses to consider how leadership, culture and safeguarding practice has developed following the McClelland Report. The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has been commissioned to undertake these independent audits. The overarching aim of each audit is to support safeguarding improvements in each diocese and across Scotland. The audit process will involve reviewing documentation as well as talking to key people. The views and experiences of different contributors are crucial to this process and the auditors are seeking information from survivors, parishes and partner organisations.
The views of parishes are crucial to the audit and a parish survey has been developed by SCEI to gather your views. The survey has six questions and should only take 5-10 minutes to complete. SCEI have asked that each of the following in the parish be asked for their views:
· Parish priest
· Parish safeguarding co-ordinator
· Youth leader
· Children’s liturgy co-ordinator
· Parish administrator
The survey is accessed via this link and the results go straight to SCEI.
There is only a limited timescale for the audit and SCEI need the survey to be completed Friday 28th of October.
The views of parishes are crucial to the audit and a parish survey has been developed by SCEI to gather your views. The survey has six questions and should only take 5-10 minutes to complete. SCEI have asked that each of the following in the parish be asked for their views:
· Parish priest
· Parish safeguarding co-ordinator
· Youth leader
· Children’s liturgy co-ordinator
· Parish administrator
The survey is accessed via this link and the results go straight to SCEI.
There is only a limited timescale for the audit and SCEI need the survey to be completed Friday 28th of October.
