Only one out of 24 complaints assessed by the Church’s safeguarding commission between February and December 2015 was substantiated.

Details about the number of complaints and other works and plans by the commission were given to the press this afternoon.

Andrew Azzopardi, the Head of Safeguarding & Director of Children’s Homes, said the commission received a total of 27 complaints last year. The commission also inherited another 4 pending cases.

24 risk assessments were concluded while the other seven are ongoing.

Mr Azzopardi explained that these cases are not limited to sexual abuse but could also deal with physical, and emotional abuse, neglect, bullying and poor practice.

Until December there were restrictions on pastoral activities imposed against five people - a diocesan priest, three religious persons (priests, brothers or nuns) and a lay person while their assessments were ongoing. One diocesan priest had their pastoral activity restricted as a result of the assessment.

The 27 complaints are 27 different names but each case could involve more than one complainant.

While one case was substantiated, 18 were unsubstantiated, three turned out to be false, one case was false with malicious intent and one was referred to a third party.

Mr Azzopardi explained that cases where an individual or individuals filed a false report with the intent to harm a member of the clergy would not necessarily end up in court because the person against whom the false claims were levelled could opt not to take his accusers to court. In fact, there was one such case.

11 of the 24 completed assessments took between 3 and 6 months, five cases took between 6 and 12 months, two were closed in less than a month and three took between 1 and 3 months. Three cases took more than a year.

 

Cases against vulnerable adults

Details were also given about complaints involving vulnerable adults. There were 14 new complaints and one case was inherited. 10 risk assessments were closed while five are ongoing. There are ongoing restrictions against one diocesan priest. Mr Azzopardi said one individual was mentioned in both lists.

Three cases were substantiated, two were unsubstantiated one was false and four were referred to third parties.

The Safeguarding Commission, Mr Azzopardi explained, has also been proactive in setting up new policies and making recommendations to the authorities, including on the setting up of a state authority responsible for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. This will help organisations, including civil authorities, improve information sharing which will, in turn help organisations be safer.

Mr Azzopardi said that, as an example, a person involved in the church could also be involved in other organisations that deal with children, such as sports organisations. The proposed authority would bring all entities together with the police and facilitate the sharing of information, giving the authorities a fuller picture.

It could also carry out a review of the sex offender’s register. “The law currently states that only the names of people convicted of sexual abuse by a court end up on the register. But imagine a case where someone admits to past sexual abuse but where the victim refuses to give permission for the perpetrator to be taken to court. Should that person not also automatically be included in the register?”

Changes were also needed in mandatory reporting, Mr Azzopardi said, explaining that the law bound the church to report alleged abuses only if the victims were still minors and if the alleged cases took place in properties belonging to the church. The commission, he said, did not agree with this.

Mr Azzopardi said the Church meets the requirements by law to file a court application for all Church personnel working with children. But the law stated that such an application was only required once, on employment. The commission is recommending that such applications would have to be submitted at least once every three years.

 

Training and awareness

The Commission delivered a number of training sessions and reached an audience of almost 700 church personnel. The plan is to increase these numbers in 2016-17 and develop a safeguarding –specific training course. All Church personnel working with children and vulnerable adults will be invited to attend. The aim is for the course to eventually become mandatory.

The Church is also in the process of launching a pilot project with the aim of developing a Prevention Model within the Church. This project involves the St Julian’s, Marsaxlokk and Iklin parishes, the Jean Antide Foundation, the female section of the MUSEUM and the Zghazagh Azzjoni Kattolika.

The Church is also currently working with the Centre for Child Protection within the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome to offer a safeguarding specific training programme to seminarians. The programme will start in the coming scholastic year.

 

Photos: Jonathan Borg

Mr Azzopardi said the Safeguarding Commission has also given substantial feedback to the government on the White Paper: ‘Effective recruitment and selection procedures for people working with minors.’