YMCA 'not fit' to care for children - Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
By Catherine Armitage, Lakes Mail, Dec. 21, 2013, 3 a.m.
The NSW (New South Wales) branch of the YMCA, which claims 400,000 child attendances a year at its 74 before- and after-school care locations, is not a child-safe organisation and may not have the capacity to become one, the royal commission into child sex abuse has been told.
Further, its chief executive, Phillip Hare, and general manager of children's services, Liam Whitley, may not be fit and proper persons to hold management positions in an organisation responsible for the care and protection of children, the commission's counsel assisting Gail Furness, SC, has asserted.
But YMCA NSW asked Justice Peter McClellan, the chairman of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, to reject these proposed findings in its case study on the organisation's handling of child sex abuse allegations against Jonathan Lord.
Lord was in his early 20s and employed as a childcare worker at YMCA Caringbah when he abused boys aged between six and 16 for two years from 2009, including on YMCA premises. He was jailed for a minimum of six years in 2012 for 13 offences involving 12 children.
Ms Furness listed 14 counts on which the YMCA was not a child-safe organisation when it employed Lord. They included the way he was recruited, a lack of proper induction and training for staff, a failure to implement child safety policies, tolerance of inappropriate touching of children, allowing Lord to be alone with them in secluded places and the lack of a confidential reporting system for staff.
Jacqui Barnat, who was then children's services co-ordinator at YMCA Caringbah, failed to follow proper procedures in eight different ways when recruiting Lord, Ms Furness submitted. She recommended Ms Barnat be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for giving false and misleading evidence to the commission.
Staff saw Lord blatantly and frequently breach the organisation's child safety policies but did not report him, according to the evidence.
Maria Gerace, appearing for two parents, urged the commission to spurn the YMCA's "astonishing, disappointing and deeply disquieting" defence that the organisation and its staff failed to prevent Lord's crimes because he had duped, groomed, manipulated, coaxed and coerced them.
Ian Neil, SC, appearing for YMCA NSW, was scarcely on his feet at the submissions hearing when Justice McClellan stopped him to protest that the YMCA's written submission was "very critical" of its junior workers yet failed to acknowledge failure on the part of management.
If the staff failed to report Lord's behaviour, for example, "that is a failure that comes back to senior management and that is a failure that is not reflected in your submissions", Justice McClellan said.
Mr Neil said YMCA NSW accepted there had been organisational failures and was committed to addressing the serious issues raised. He said his client did not criticise the junior staff but only the evidence they gave.
But Ms Furness disputed this, pointing to where the YMCA NSW's submission said staff's evidence was "self-serving", that one of them had "no interest in complying with the expectations required of her from her employer", and another "could not keep abreast" of the training in policies.
The YMCA's management failures, its behaviour during the hearings and its written submission all showed it was not a child-safe institution and raised serious doubts about its capacity to carry out the reforms necessary to become one, Ms Furness submitted.
The hearing was adjourned until January 21.
A spokesman for Family and Community Services Minister Pru Goward declined to comment. The Office of the Children's Guardian, which administers the screening of the Working With Children Check, could not be contacted.
By Catherine Armitage, Lakes Mail, Dec. 21, 2013, 3 a.m.
The NSW (New South Wales) branch of the YMCA, which claims 400,000 child attendances a year at its 74 before- and after-school care locations, is not a child-safe organisation and may not have the capacity to become one, the royal commission into child sex abuse has been told.
Further, its chief executive, Phillip Hare, and general manager of children's services, Liam Whitley, may not be fit and proper persons to hold management positions in an organisation responsible for the care and protection of children, the commission's counsel assisting Gail Furness, SC, has asserted.
But YMCA NSW asked Justice Peter McClellan, the chairman of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, to reject these proposed findings in its case study on the organisation's handling of child sex abuse allegations against Jonathan Lord.
Lord was in his early 20s and employed as a childcare worker at YMCA Caringbah when he abused boys aged between six and 16 for two years from 2009, including on YMCA premises. He was jailed for a minimum of six years in 2012 for 13 offences involving 12 children.Ms Furness listed 14 counts on which the YMCA was not a child-safe organisation when it employed Lord. They included the way he was recruited, a lack of proper induction and training for staff, a failure to implement child safety policies, tolerance of inappropriate touching of children, allowing Lord to be alone with them in secluded places and the lack of a confidential reporting system for staff.
Jacqui Barnat, who was then children's services co-ordinator at YMCA Caringbah, failed to follow proper procedures in eight different ways when recruiting Lord, Ms Furness submitted. She recommended Ms Barnat be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions for giving false and misleading evidence to the commission.
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| Child's drawing of Jonathan Lord |
Staff saw Lord blatantly and frequently breach the organisation's child safety policies but did not report him, according to the evidence.
Maria Gerace, appearing for two parents, urged the commission to spurn the YMCA's "astonishing, disappointing and deeply disquieting" defence that the organisation and its staff failed to prevent Lord's crimes because he had duped, groomed, manipulated, coaxed and coerced them.
Ian Neil, SC, appearing for YMCA NSW, was scarcely on his feet at the submissions hearing when Justice McClellan stopped him to protest that the YMCA's written submission was "very critical" of its junior workers yet failed to acknowledge failure on the part of management.
If the staff failed to report Lord's behaviour, for example, "that is a failure that comes back to senior management and that is a failure that is not reflected in your submissions", Justice McClellan said.
Mr Neil said YMCA NSW accepted there had been organisational failures and was committed to addressing the serious issues raised. He said his client did not criticise the junior staff but only the evidence they gave.
But Ms Furness disputed this, pointing to where the YMCA NSW's submission said staff's evidence was "self-serving", that one of them had "no interest in complying with the expectations required of her from her employer", and another "could not keep abreast" of the training in policies.
The YMCA's management failures, its behaviour during the hearings and its written submission all showed it was not a child-safe institution and raised serious doubts about its capacity to carry out the reforms necessary to become one, Ms Furness submitted.
The hearing was adjourned until January 21.
A spokesman for Family and Community Services Minister Pru Goward declined to comment. The Office of the Children's Guardian, which administers the screening of the Working With Children Check, could not be contacted.
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