St Paul’s Cathedral is strongly committed to safeguarding the children and vulnerable people who participate in our services and other activities.
As such, we are delighted that a new Child Safe Policy and Code of Conduct for the Diocese of Melbourne have recently been approved by Archbishop in Council. These documents will standardise the safeguarding policies of individual churches, making child protection consistent across the Diocese.
The Cathedral was heavily involved in the creation of these documents; the Code was drafted by a working group led by Canon Chancellor Michael Shand, and including Dean Andreas, a former member of Chapter, a Choir member and Choir parent, along with representatives from Kooyoora (Diocesan Professional Standards) and the St Hilary’s Network, which has a substantial ministry to children and young people. As one of the most ‘volunteer-rich’ churches in the Diocese, the Cathedral also acted as a testing ground for new compliance requirements, with all our volunteers obtaining Working with Children check and Police Checks, and undertaking Professional Standards training. We have appointed a Compliance officer, to ensure that all clearances are up to date and any anomalies can be swiftly dealt with.
We commend the Diocese of Melbourne for taking this important step, and pray that it will herald a safer and more transparent future.