The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference in 2018 published a Child Protection Policy for the Church in Ghana which offers the new guideline for Priests, Religious and lay people working with children and vulnerable adults in the name of the Catholic Church in Ghana.
This well-thought 53-page Policy document stipulates how every Arch/Diocese should have structures for child protection. As lay people, some might have heard or read the Policy document but many would not have heard of it at all before thinking of reading it.
Arch/Diocesan Level: Each Arch/Bishop is to appoint (i) A Child Protection Officer and (ii) A Child Protection Commission.
The Child Protection Officer
The main roles of the Child Protection Officer (CPO) shall be:
- To chair the meetings of the CPC and co-ordinate its activities.
- To plan and co-ordinate appropriate Child Protection and ethical training in the Arch/Diocese for those in leadership positions.
- To plan and implement timely monitoring and auditing of Child Protection Policies in all units of the Arch/Diocese.
- To prepare timely interventions for the Arch/Bishop on Policies, procedures, harm prevention, training and education, communication of the Child Protection message, and advice and support.
- To keep himself/ herself and the Arch/Bishop informed of developments in knowledge and best practice in and outside the Arch/Diocese on Child Protection and integrity in ministry.
- To advise the Arch/Bishop and the appropriate leaders in the Arch/Diocese about Child Protection and integrity challenges as they develop.
- To cooperate with the different offices of the Arch/Diocese in areas of common concern.
- To prepare and deliver interventions for important meetings in the Arch/Diocese such as the Diocesan Pastoral Council, the Priests’ Assembly, meeting of Religious, etc.
The Child Protection Officer shall be appointed for a term of three (3) years renewable.
Composition of the Arch/Diocesan Child Protection Committee
The members of the Child Protection Committee (CPC) shall be appointed by the Arch/Bishop and shall be composed of the following people:
- The Child Protection Officer (CPO);
- A Priest
- A male Religious
- A female Religious
- A social worker;
- A legal practitioner/ Consultant
- A male adult working or who has worked with children
- A female adult working or who has worked with children
The Role of the Child Protection Committee. The main roles of the Child Protection Committee are:
- To provide a consistent, on-going and comprehensive approach to creating a safe environment for people who would be targets of abuses.
- To see to complaints, legal issues and pastoral issues that would ensure the safety of the child.
- To alert the CPO about possible cases of child abuse.
- To advise the CPO on how to proceed when cases have been reported.
- Together with the CPO, to seek ways of constantly raising the awareness of and educating the public about the seriousness of Child Protection and what needs to be done to ensure safe environments in our parishes and institutions.
- The CPC shall meet twice a year for their own ongoing formation on Child Protection and whenever there are cases that need attention
- The names, addresses and telephone numbers of the CPO and of the members of the CPC should be published in all the parishes and Institutions of the Arch/Diocese.
- The members of the CPC are appointed by the Arch/Bishop on the basis of merit for a term of three (3) years renewable.
Provincial Level: At the level of the Ecclesiastical Province, the various CPOs will meet on a quarterly basis to examine the cases they have and to advise each other on how to proceed. It will also be an opportunity for them to programme local ongoing formation on some of the issues.
National Level: At the national level, the various CPOs of the Arch/Dioceses will meet on a yearly basis with the Episcopal Chairman for Clergy and Religious and Secretary for the Centre for Human Development (CEHUD) to review cases that they may not have been able to handle at the level of the provinces. It will also be an occasion for them to have ongoing formation on some aspects of Child Protection.
With the above structures, it is hoped that stakeholders in the Church would effectively implement the Child Protection Policy to protect children, young people and vulnerable adults.
The Policy, in my view, should be able to also create room for stakeholders in education to help ensure that a safer environment is put in place to protect our children in our Catholic Schools, young people and the vulnerable adults to become more responsible leaders in future.
The Catholic Church should not relent but continue to always complement government’s efforts at providing spiritual and moral formation to help nurture good values in our children to become more responsible citizens because knowledge without character is “useless.”
By Damian Avevor
