The Confraternity, as part of the wider Catholic Church in Scotland, takes the safety of all who participate in its activities extremely seriously and is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for children, young people and vulnerable adults. To achieve this we adhere to the safeguarding guidance published by the Bishops of Scotland.
In order to ensure the safety of all participants, anyone taking part in Confraternity events who is under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a responsible adult. Those under 16 must be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times. This means that, if a child needs to withdraw from walking during the day, their responsible adult must withdraw also. This ‘responsible adult’ must be a parent, guardian, or a person nominated in advance and in writing by the parent or guardian, known to the child.
Since parents/guardians, or their nominated chaperones, must be present at events, children remain their responsibility, not the Confraternity’s, and for this reason we do not ask our volunteers to undergo individualised safeguarding checks.
If anyone should become concerned about the safety of another person during a Confraternity event, they should raise the matter immediately with one of the Confraternity’s trustees (who will make themselves known to participants) in the first instance; they may also contact the President of the Confraternity by emailing cosn.president@gmail.com. They may also wish to raise the matter with the Scottish Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (SCSSA); all concerns will be appropriately investigated in accordance with the guidelines set out by the SCSSA.
This statement has been agreed by the Confraternity trustees and is reviewed annually.