Saturday 27 October 2007

Child-protection protocol agreed

Full Story:
http://www.stopinjusticenow.com/News_0486.htm
THE BROAD principles of a protocol for systematically reviewing past child-protection cases have been agreed, the Church of England confirmed yesterday.
The Archbishop of Canterbury announced the review in May, when he acknowledged on the BBC's Today programme that errors had been made in the period before 1995, when the current guidelines were issued (News, 1 June).
He said on that occasion: "We don't just want to look good: we want to do this properly; and so we need to have the best professional advice on how we might review these historic cases."
The House of Bishops has been guided by the Church's Central Safeguarding Liaison Group, and a drafting group has done more work as requested after the presentation of its first text.
Each diocesan bishop will initiate a review of files, including those of retired priests, diocesan lay employees, and Readers. An independent reviewer will be appointed to assess whether any "cause for concern" exists. Diocesan bishops will also write to previous bishops, archdeacons, bishops' chaplains, and secretarial staff.
Concerns expressed by clerics or congregation members will be included in the diocesan files. Any urgent issues that arise will be dealt with immediately by reference to the statutory authorities.
The Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Revd Anthony Priddis, who chairs the Liaison Group, described the protocol as "belt and braces". He said on Wednesday: "This gives us a focus to let us review any cases that have come up in the past. We want to make sure that if we look at them through the eyes of today's best practice, we can satisfy ourselves that they've been dealt with in the best possible way."

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