A study conducted in seven different countries involving a range of adults associated with the Catholic Church - including clergy, school teachers, laity, and other church-related roles - revealed notable differences in attitudes, self-confidence, and perceptions of levels of awareness and knowledge about safeguarding. There were significant variations among people in different roles within churches, schools and child services.

Clergy were likely to self-report more positively about their safeguarding capabilities than lay people. The study found that clergy reported the highest levels of awareness of policies and procedures, and the strongest positive attitudes towards the importance of safeguarding. In countries with no national inquiries, self-reported levels of knowledge and awareness were lowest. Although the survey does not test whether individuals have the actual skills, knowledge and capacity to safeguard children, these varying levels of perceptions of awareness, confidence, attitude, and knowledge, indicate that more is needed to be done to keep children safe across the Church as a whole. These findings have important implications for how we approach safeguarding training and awareness-building in different countries with adults in different roles.

About the presenter

Douglas Russell leads the Children and Young People's Safety project at Australian Catholic University's Institute of Child Protection Studies. This project helps organisations in two ways: it ensures the engagement of children and young people in informing safeguarding efforts; and it gives an understanding of the capabilities of staff and volunteers to prevent and respond to organisational child sexual abuse.

Date: Wednesday 2 October 2024

Time: 7.30 pm (Australian AEST) and for global subscribers the time is 10.30am (Eastern Europe Time, EET), 4.30pm (Singapore Time, SGT), and 8.30am (Greenwich Mean Time, GMT)

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