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CHILD SAFETY |
| Mr Bruce Thorpe has been trained to provide what has
previously been called Mandatory Reporting. The new correct title
for this work is “Understanding Child Safe Environments &
Reporting Child Abuse & Neglect”. At its last meeting, the
Diocesan Council agreed to a policy that every Licensed Lay Minister, as
well as every Cleric in the Diocese should undergo this training and
Bishop Garry has also asked all the members of the Community of Saint
Barnabas and Saint Cecilia to undergo this training. It takes
eight hours and every member of the Religious Community and
every Priest and Deacon will have an up-to-date certificate confirming
that they understand Child Safe Environments and Reporting Child Neglect
and Abuse. Congregations can probably best organize this work and
you need to contact Bruce Thorpe at his home in Auburn on (08) 8849 2318
or email: bbanddat@ozemail.com.au
to find a time when he might come to your Congregation/Parish/District
for training. It is quite OK to advertise this training widely,
school teachers, sports coaches, doctors, dentists and any others who
are involved in close contact with young people are required by law to
have undergone this training and Bruce’s training is certified around
Australia as being satisfactory for the fulfilment of legislative
provisions. The cost, at this stage, will be $35:00 per person
which is considerably less than any other Child Safety Training
available. The minimum number of people to form a training group
is eight and this is an absolute lower number, so it may be necessary
for your Licensed Lay Minister to combine with those of a nearby
congregation to enable there to be sufficient people as well as energy
for the training to continue. This could be an imposition, but it
is important that we all recognize the necessity for clarity about child
safety and security in our Church environment and so this will have to
be part of every Licensed Lay Ministers’ Training. |
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CHILD SAFE ENVIRONMENTS – REPORTING
CHILD ABUSE & NEGLECT
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There have been some
changes to this program, which was formerly known as Mandated
Notification Training. The 2 main changes which impinge upon the way the
program can be delivered in Willochra are as follows:
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1. The 7 Hour Program which Bishop Garry
requires of all licence holders can now be done on-line. It is offered
through TAFE and the only prerequisite is that you have a computer and
are on the internet. You can start the course at any time and there is
no time limit for completion. If anyone is interested in doing this
please contact me for details. For those who enrol to do this on-line, I
am available to provide help by phone and/or email. The fee in 2009 was
$46.50 and $18.75 for some concession card holders.
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2. There is no longer a requirement for a
minimum number of participants, so I can now lead courses for smaller
numbers. However, a great deal of the value of the course comes from
group interaction so the bigger the group, the better the course is. The
fee for the course is $15.00 for Anglicans and $30.00 for non-Anglicans.
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In addition to the full 7 hour program, I
can also lead a 2 hour program for those who want to consolidate
previous training, or for any group that is interested in learning more
about dealing with child abuse in our communities.
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If anyone wants more information about any
of the above, or wants to organise a course please contact me.
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Bruce Thorpe
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phone: (08) 8849 2318
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email:
bbanddat@ozemail.com.au
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