The Oblates of Mary Immaculate remain committed to the safety and well-being of all in our ministries, especially children and vulnerable adults.
We continue to prioritise healthy and respectful support for those affected by the trauma of abuse and the following report demonstrates some of the ways that the Oblates monitor and ensure the highest standards of care possible.
In Dec 2017 Australia witnessed the conclusion of the Royal Commission into the Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse and the handing down of the findings of this 5-year inquiry. In response an organisation called Catholic Professional Standards or CPSL (recently changed to Australian Catholic Professional Standards) was formed. It operated independently of the church and was responsible for developing the 10 National Catholic Safeguarding Standards and auditing all Catholic Church entities.
In 2019, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate employed a National Safeguarding Coordinator, Megan Vardanega, to oversee the safeguarding audit on behalf of the Oblates and their ministries in Australia. Work began in early 2019 and the final report of the Safeguarding Audit of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate has recently been published.
The Oblates as an order were audited alongside their ministries which included Rosie’s Oblate Youth Mission and Oblate Youth Australia. Iona College and Mazenod College WA are already regulated and have accreditation and external oversight processes already in place to operate as a school, so they were not reaudited by CPSL but CPSL did require a Declaration of Assurance and Compliance from each school to demonstrate how the individual schools meet each of the ten standards.
Audit procedures included the following:
interviews, observations and enquiry with the OMI Leadership Team, Safeguarding Coordinator, individual OMI members and relevant personnel.
·review of key safeguarding documents, policies and procedures; and
assessment of the design, and testing of the operation of safeguarding controls implemented by OMI.
The Oblates have demonstrated compliance with 98 % of the indicators relevant to their operations under the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards. A further two Indicators (2%) are in the initial stages of implementation. There are 6 recommendations – no Priority 1 (high rated) audit recommendations and three Priority 2 (medium rated) recommendations and three Priority 3 (low rated) recommendations.
This excellent result reflects the significant work undertaken by so many people across all Oblate ministries to ensure that the Oblates have the safest places possible for children and vulnerable adults. The Oblates remain committed to building a culture into the future which places safeguarding at the core of all thinking and action.
See below for the link to view the full report.