JCCV supports victims of child sexual abuse
As the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse hears testimony from members of the Jewish community, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) reiterates its support for victims of child sexual abuse and their families, and welcomes the opportunity provided by the Royal Commission for them to tell their stories.
Jennifer Huppert
We are following the proceedings of the Royal Commission closely by livestream and we are all devastated by any and every case of child sexual abuse. The JCCV strongly supports reporting to police and other appropriate secular authorities, as well as full cooperation with the authorities during investigations. Our children must be protected from future abuse.
All victims should be treated with respect, decency and compassion, and we recommend directing victims to appropriate counselling and support services such as provided by organisations listed in the online JCCV Child Protection Directory.
Contacts for child protection reporting of incidents, counselling and training are available in the Child Protection Directory of the JCCV website at http://www.jccv.org.au/child-protection-directory.html.
We strongly advise all community organisations to implement effective child protection policies and practices, and to ensure that these are communicated to all stakeholders, including parents and staff.
To this end, over 60 leaders and staff from 20 Jewish community organisations participating in an extensive program of JCCV child protection policy and procedures training in 2014, including a diverse range schools, synagogues and community groups.
The remaining Jewish day schools have signed up with some other organisations for the training in 2015, so that all Jewish schools will have participated in the JCCV training by mid-2015.
The training has been designed by and is being delivered by Katherine Levi, a highly qualified professional with 20 years of experience working with youth at risk. She was CEO of the Australian Council for Children and Youth Organisations (ACCYO) for 4 years and CEO of Big Brothers – Big Sisters for 6 years. Katherine also developed the Safeguarding Children Program.
We strongly urge community organisations to implement what they have learned, and for the community to insist that the organisations they are connected with can demonstrate to them that they have a policy in place and abide by it.
Jennifer Huppert, JCCV President said, “Having all the schools and a wide range of community organisations involved is a great achievement for the community. We should note that this is the start of an ongoing process of protecting children, not the end of it.”
On Monday, the JCCV had Martin West, a representative of the Department of Justice present to its affiliates on the new law on the Working With Children Checks for religious leaders.
