With some innovations, 2004 audits of diocesan sex abuse policy begin

Published: 2004-08-19

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- With a few innovations, the 2004 audits to measure compliance with sex abuse prevention policies by U.S. dioceses and Eastern-rite eparchies started in late July. A new question this year is the number of allegations received by dioceses and eparchies since their 2003 audit, said Sheila Horan, deputy director of the U.S. bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection. The answers will establish a statistical base line needed to measure the success of prevention policies by showing whether future accusations will rise or fall, she said. "Are we reducing cases?" she said. The child and youth protection office is responsible for conducting the on-site audits and has contracted the Gavin Group, the same organization that did the 2003 audits, to do this year's audits. The 2003 audits, the first to be conducted, showed 90 percent compliance with the policies contained in the bishops' "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," approved in 2002. Other 2004 innovations include: provisions that allow individuals or groups with information that a diocese or eparchy may not be in compliance with policies to forward such information directly to the Gavin Group, and giving dioceses and eparchies the audit results within two weeks of the completion of their individual audit rather than waiting for all audits to be completed, as was done in 2003.

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