Safeguarding our churches

Report a Complaint

Reporting a Complaint

 

Report a Complaint


Report and Response Team Steps

Thank you for taking this difficult but important step to report suspected serious misconduct and/or any breach/suspected breach of law or regulation that may adversely impact you and/or other employees or members of a Diocese of Christ Our Hope parish. 

We encourage you, as the reporter, to take the initial step to confidentially contact the Diocesan Independent Licensed Mental Health Professional to more deeply understand the process and submit a formal complaint to the Diocesan Response Team (DRT). To do so, click on the “Report a Complaint” button above.

The (DRT) will keep your report confidential to the extent they are able, but please be aware that confidentiality may not be maintained where identification is required by law; or in order to enable the Diocese or law enforcement to conduct an adequate investigation. 

As of March 1, 2022, members of a Diocesan Response Team have been identified and are convening regularly in order to establish additional safeguarding measures and workflows for responding to complaints. 

Steps to Report a Complaint

  1. The initial, Report a Complaint form, is a confidential consent to contact from the independent, Licensed Mental Health Professional.  
  2. The Licensed Mental Health Professional will reach out to the individual within 12 hours and establish a time to speak directly.
  3. In that scheduled conversation, the Licensed Mental Health Professional and the individual submitting the report will have a more detailed conversation about the overall process, how to submit a formal complaint, as well as address any other concerns or questions.
  4. If the individual wishes to complete the formal report, the form will be provided and the Licensed Mental Health Professional will support the individual if needed.
  5. The formal complaint will be sent confidentially to the DRT directly.  No other individuals will have access to the content of the report at this point.
  6. The DRT will convene within 3 business days.
  7. Once the DRT reviews the report(s), next steps would be established and communicated directly to the individual who filed the report.

Important Definitions for the RT

Advocate: non-Diocesan individual selected by the complainant and the respondent as a companion and support for the duration of the Response Team. This person may be a trained, certified Survivor Advocate, or this may be a person that the complainant and/or respondent each has selected as their safe companion in this response team process.

Complainant: person claiming to be the recipient of misconduct or to have knowledge of misconduct to another.

Respondent: person accused of misconduct or abuse.

Roles and Responsibilities

The purpose of this document is to provide the Diocese of Christ Our Hope Response Team (DRT) Roles and Responsibilities for complaints that are received. In each complaint scenario, this DRT structure will be assessed and then modified to best care for every party involved.

Each member of the DRT will agree to strict confidentiality and care for every party involved. The following roles and responsibilities will be managed within the team:

  • Complainant and their Advocate: The one who has submitted a complaint in writing and their support person, a non-parishioner and potentially a professional victim’s advocate if the situation should require.
  • Respondent and their Advocate: The one who is the subject of a complaint of abuse or misconduct and their support person, a non-parishioner and potentially a professional victim’s advocate if the situation should require.
  • Complainant DRT Liaison: This person is not the advocate for the Complainant. This contact for the team is the Complainant’s point person during the DRT and ensures proper and consistent communications with the complainant and their support. They can assist the Complainant in identifying a non-parishioner or a professional victim’s advocate to walk alongside during the Response process as an advocate. This Complainant Liaison should have regular scheduled meetings with the complainant and their selected support person and consistently be present at DRT meetings.
  • Respondent DRT Liaison: This person is not the advocate for the Respondent. This contact for the team is the Respondent’s point person during the DRT and ensures proper and consistent communications with the complainant and their support. They can assist the Respondent in identifying a non-parishioner or a professional victim’s advocate to walk alongside during the Response process as an advocate.  This respondent liaison should have regular scheduled meetings with the respondent and their selected support person. They will be consistently present at DRT meetings. 
  • Legal coordinator (preferably with legal experience and/or ACNA Canons familiarity): ensure any communications from the DRT and related parties are survivor-sensitive and careful to manage documents and details of the process confidentially.
  • Communications coordinator: receive details of the complainant and respondent. This person is the default leader of DRT research and recommendations to secure an outside investigator if needed. This person agrees to hold strict confidentiality and maintain files accordingly.
  • Administration: depending on the nature of the complaint there may be need for additional support for the team to organize notes and meetings. If not, this task could be shared between 4 members.

Title IV Canonical Investigations

Process Overview