Notifications of New Cases Received by the National Office – 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012

National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church
June 6, 2012

http://www.safeguarding.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/NBSCCC_Report_2011.pdf

[with pdf]

Under the reporting procedures contained in 'Safeguarding Children: Standards and Guidance'

each Church authority is expected to report any new safeguarding case that they become aware of to the relevant statutory child protection agencies, namely the Gardaí or the PSNI, the HSE or the HSC. We also ask that the National Office receive notification of the case and confirmation that it has been passed on in line with the Guidance. The expectation is that the reports will be made comprehensively and in a timely fashion. This aspect of the safeguarding practice of the Church authorities represents a key indicator within the Safeguarding Review process being progressed by the National Board.

Two hundred and thirty-seven notifications were received by the National Office over the course of

the last year. These involved 196 priests/religious and originate predominantly from adults who complained of abuse which occurred in their childhood. A number of notifications that had previously been reported to either of the statutory child protection agencies by the Church authority involved had not been communicated to the other in the belief that reports made to one agency would automatically be given to the other through the existence of a joint protocol between the statutory child protection agencies. However, through the review and audit processes within the Church, it became clear that this protocol had not always been operating, and as a result some reports were only known to one of the child protection agencies. The practice of the Church today is to report to both child protection agencies, both verbally and in writing, to ensure that all child safeguarding matters that come to our attention are shared with the appropriate statutory bodies. We can

confirm that each Church authority that notified us of a new case over the last year also reported that

they had communicated the details to the relevant statutory agencies.