A safeguarding audit of the Canberra-based Congregation of Mary Queen of Peace has found policies and procedures to keep children and adults at risk safe are developed and in place throughout the entity’s Australian operations.
The audit report, prepared by Australian Catholic Safeguarding Ltd (ACSL) and published today, assessed the Congregation’s implementation of the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards, a framework for the safety of children and adults in Catholic entities.
The audit found that 100 per cent of the indicators relevant to the Congregation were either fully embedded or substantially implemented at the time of the NCSS audit.
ACSL chief executive Ursula Stephens said that while the Congregation’s work in Australia is administratively focused and involves only incidental contact with children and adults at risk, the Congregation still has significant safeguarding responsibilities throughout their presence in Australia.
“The Congregation of Mary Queen of Peace’s primary mission is based in Vietnam, and their work is to carry out the Church’s mission amongst children with disabilities and with the ethnic minorities of the Highlands of Viet Nam,” Dr Stephens said.
“The Sisters have a presence in the Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn through their religious house that allows them to connect with the local community and also serves a place for the sisters from Vietnam to come to Canberra for a period of study or work experience, after which they return to work in the Diocese of Ban Me Thuot in Vietnam.
“To scope the audit of the Congregation we used ACSL’s risk-based framework to target our assessment. This enabled us to identify relevant current and emerging risks for the Sisters’ operations in Australia.”
ACSL made five recommendations to the Congregation to enhance their safeguarding practices with 12 months to implement the recommendations.
The audit report of the Congregation is available through the Publications and Reports area of ACSL’s website.
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Safety of children and adults at risk in focus for Congregation of Mary Queen of Peace (ACSL)
