AUSTRALIA
International Business Times
By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | October 4, 2013
The Catholic Church in Australia on Thursday has proposed to work on new systems and procedures on how it would deal child sex abuse cases in the future.
The proposals, according to Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Truth Justice and Healing Council, are being aimed to be presented in the first half of 2014 to Catholic Church leaders in Australia.
Part of the reform proposals include:
Appointing independent compensation commissioners to determine payments to victims who go through the victim response process known as Towards Healing. This would separate the pastoral responses in Towards Healing from the determination of financial payments;
The appointment of lay and independent experts to strengthen the Church’s National Committee of Professional Standards;
The introduction of an independent national board to develop and administer national child protection standards. The board would monitor adherence to these standards and publicly report on compliance;
The board would also provide more rigorous assessment, monitoring, auditing and enforcement of Towards Healing practices;
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