A safeguarding audit report of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart published by Australian Catholic Safeguarding Ltd has found safeguarding practices are understood and embedded across the congregation’s members and key activities.
The audit assessed the congregation’s implementation of the National Catholic Safeguarding Standards (NCSS), a framework to promote the safety of children in Catholic organisations.
The Sisters of St Joseph received a compliance score of 100 per cent against the NCSS, with all relevant NCSS indicators either fully or substantially progressed at the time of audit.
ACSL chief executive Ursula Stephens said it was pleasing to see that efforts to ensure children who come in contact with the congregation are safe have been prioritised.
“Through our audit processes, including a desktop review of key safeguarding policies and site visits to centres in NSW and South Australia, as well as interviews with a sample of members across the congregation, we identified solid practices in place,” Dr Stephens said.
Dr Stephens said the audit did identify some areas where the congregation can “tighten their existing processes” and ACSL provided two formal recommendations to the congregation’s leadership. These have been accepted and will be implemented over the course of the next 12 months.
The Sisters of St Joseph’s congregational Leader, Sr Monica Cavanagh, said the “safeguarding of children has always had a unique place in our story and will continue to do so”.
View the Sisters of St Joseph’s audit report on ACSL’s website.
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