Keeping our community safe

At Sacred Heart & St Columba Parish we hold the care, safety and wellbeing of children, young people and vulnerable adults as a central and fundamental responsibility of our parish. Our commitment is drawn from and inherent in the teaching and mission of Jesus Christ, with love, justice and the sanctity of each human person at the heart of the gospel.

Safeguarding Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults Statement of Commitment

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Child Friendly Statement Commitment

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The Church’s social doctrine constantly points out the need to respect the dignity of children. ‘In the family, which is a community of persons, special attention must be devoted to the children by developing a profound esteem for their personal dignity, and a great respect and generous concern for their rights’ (Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, 26).   

Indeed it was Jesus who, when his disciples were arguing among themselves about who was the greatest, directed his attention to a little child and said to his disciples, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me’ (Mark 9.37).

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Acknowledgement and recognition of victims / survivors.

Following the Victorian Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations, Child Safe Standards have been introduced into a wide range of organisations including schools and churches. Following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, National Safeguarding Standards were introduced in February 2019. Our Safeguarding Committee of Fr John Petrulis, Christine Mitchell, Daniella Maddalena, India Mitchell-Fletcher and Jane Hearnes continues to work to embed the safety of children, young peopld and vulnerable adults into our culture and to ensure our Parish meets the National Safeguarding Standards.

Materials will be available on this website and the CAM website, at our churches and parish house. Please feel free to contact us if you would like any further information or clarifications.

The National Catholic Safeguarding Standards set out 10 Standards, providing the framework for Catholic Church entities to build child-safe cultures and to advance the safety of children across the Catholic Church in Australia.

The National Catholic Safeguarding Standards take into account the guidance of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations adopted by the Council of Australian Governments (Feb 2019).

Further information on the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards, including a range of advice, resources and templates and information on the scope of the Standards is available from the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards section of the Catholic Professional Standards Ltd web page.

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The Victorian Commission for Children and Young People provides additional information and resources that underpin our commitment to Safeguarding.

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A plain language summary of Victoria's Child Safe Standards is available here.

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The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne has a dedicated Safeguarding Unit and provides numerous resources to support parishes with safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. Please visit https://melbournecatholic.org/safeguarding for more information.

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The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne’s Safeguarding Children and Young People (SCYP) Framework version 2.0, is now available. These documents replace all previous versions, including the Safeguarding Children and Young People Policy and the May Our Children Flourish Child Safety Code of Conduct.

The original Safeguarding Children and Young People Framework was released in 2019. The updated version has been created following feedback from stakeholders, a review of critical incidents and to continue to align with current and updated legislation. These documents are reviewed as part of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne’s commitment to continuous improvement to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the most vulnerable members of our community.

The new suite of documents have been streamlined and redesigned with the aim of making them more accessible, fostering a shared understanding and commitment to safeguarding within the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.

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The newly released SCYP Framework is available at: https://melbournecatholic.org/safeguarding/safeguarding-framework-resources

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The purpose of this policy is to demonstrate our strong commitment  to the care, safety and wellbeing of all children in our parish. It provides an outline of the policies, procedures and strategies developed to keep children safe from harm, including all forms of abuse in our parish environment, on site, online and in other locations used by the parish.

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the Archdiocese enacts its strong commitment to proactively protect the safety and wellbeing of children and young people.

The Policy is for all those who work or volunteer with children within an agency or parish of the Archdiocese and is intended to support and underpin the pastoral role of priests, religious, pastoral associates, pastoral workers, parishioners and other volunteers and promote an environment in which the dignity and safety of children and young people is paramount.

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Our Parish has adopted the Archdiocesan

Safeguarding Children and Young Policy

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The updated Safeguarding Children and Young People Code of Conduct and Declaration has been signed by our Leadership Teams to confirm their ongoing commitment to a culture of Safeguarding in our Parish.

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These documents apply to all parish personnel, including parish employees, volunteers, contractors and clergy. Clery, staff and volunteers need to sign the Code and require a Working with Children Check. Staff and the finance committee also require a Police Check. Please contact the office for further details.

Our school and parish have adopted The Victorian Reportable Conduct Scheme as of 1 July 2017. The Victorian Reportable Conduct Scheme seeks to improve organisations’ responses to allegations of child abuse and neglect by their workers and volunteers. The scheme is established by the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 (the Act). The Commission for Children and Young People is responsible for administering the scheme.

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Our role includes: 

supporting and guiding organisations that receive allegations in order to promote fair, effective, timely and appropriate responses 

independently overseeing, monitoring and, where appropriate, making recommendations to improve the responses of those organisations.

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SAFEGUARDING INFORMATION FOR  ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLAND PEOPLE.

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SAFEGUARDING INFORMATION FOR PEOPLE FROM CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS.