Assessment

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1. In all cases to which this Clause applies, the Director of Professional Standards shall appoint assessors. Two assessors shall be appointed unless the Director considers that in the circumstances one professional assessor is sufficient. A list of assessors shall be maintained by the Resource Group. The appointment of the assessors shall occur as soon as practicable.
1. The assessors chosen must be, and be seen to be, independent of the Church authority, the complainant and the accused.
2. The purpose of an assessment is to investigate the facts of the case where there is a significant dispute as to the facts, or where there is a need for further information concerning the complaint.
3. The assessor or assessors shall arrange an interview with the complainant. Where there is more than one assessor, both should interview the complainant and the accused.
1. Where the complainant is not the victim, then the assessors shall not seek to interview the victim without first discussing the matter with the complainant and the Director of Professional Standards. If the facts are disputed, and it is not possible to interview the person who it is said has been victimised, then it may not be possible to proceed any further in dealing with the complaint unless other relevant information, such as a police record of interview, is available.
2. The complainant shall be invited to have another person present at the interview.
3. Under no circumstances shall there be any attempt to intimidate a complainant or to dissuade a complainant from proceeding with a complaint.
4. No interview with a child will take place if there is a risk that this will interfere with the proper process of civil or criminal law. No interview, either by a Contact Person or an assessor, shall be conducted with a child without the express written authority and in the presence of the parent or guardian. An interview with a child shall only be conducted by personnel who are professionally recognised as skilled practitioners in interviewing children.
5. Special care shall also be taken in interviewing persons with an intellectual or psychiatric disability and any such interview shall be conducted only by an appropriately qualified and experienced person.
6. The Director of Professional Standards has a discretion to close a matter if the complainant decides not to cooperate with an assessment process.
4. The assessor or assessors shall arrange an interview with the accused, if he or she is available and willing to speak to them. If the accused does not wish to cooperate with the assessment, the assessment shall still proceed and the assessors shall endeavour to reach a conclusion concerning the truth of the matter so that the Church authority can make an appropriate response to the complainant.
1. Where an interview with the accused takes place, the assessor or assessors shall inform the accused that in both civil and Church law a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
2. An accused person may be invited to admit to an offense but is not bound to do so, nor may an oath be administered. (4)
5. The accused has the right to obtain independent legal advice.
1. This advice shall be at the accused's expense, although the Church authority may exercise a discretion to make loans or to reimburse an accused for reasonable legal expenses if he or she is unable to afford legal assistance.

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6. The accused is entitled to have other persons present during any interviews (e.g. accused's support person or legal representative).
7. The assessors shall interview any other persons who could be of assistance. Decisions about who should be interviewed should be made after taking account of any wishes expressed by the complainant and the accused, and following consultation with the Director of Professional Standards. They may also need to put to the complainant the accused's version of events.
8. Church authorities shall comply with all reasonable requests made by assessors for access to documents which may assist them in their work. Church authorities are not required to disclose documents concerning which it has an obligation of confidentiality to the accused or to any other person.
9. A written or taped record shall be made of all interviews.
10. The contact person and the accused's support person shall have ready access to the assessors and shall have the responsibility of keeping the complainant and accused, respectively, informed of the progress of the assessment.
11. After the assessment is completed, the assessors shall provide a written report to the Church authority and the Director of Professional Standards. The assessors shall review the evidence for the complaint, examine the areas of dispute and may advise the Church authority whether they consider the complaint to be true.
1. The assessors must provide reasons for their conclusions. If they are unable to reach a determination of the truth of the matter with a sufficient degree of certainty they may nonetheless make recommendations to the Church authority concerning its response to the complainant.
2. Where the behaviour about which complaint has been made was not a criminal offense, the assessors may also comment on how serious was the abuse of the pastoral role.
3. The complainant is entitled to know the findings of the assessment promptly. The accused is also entitled to know the findings of the assessment if he or she has participated in the assessment or otherwise could be subjected to disciplinary action as a consequence of it by the Church authority. The Director of Professional Standards is responsible for communicating the relevant findings.
12. The Church authority shall discuss the findings and recommendations of the report with the Director of Professional Standards as quickly as possible. If the assessors consider the complaint to be true, then the Church authority must consider what action needs to be taken under Clauses 41 and 42 of these procedures. The Director of Professional Standards may be called upon by the Church authority for advice on these matters. If the Church authority decides to reject the complaint, then it must provide reasons for its decision to the complainant.
13. Mindful that the assessment process is a difficult and trying time for all concerned, particularly the complainant and the accused, the process of the assessment shall be undertaken and concluded as quickly as possible and the process shall be as transparent as possible to all concerned. The Director of Professional Standards shall seek to ensure that all parties adhere to this principle.
14. During the assessment, and therefore, at a time when guilt has been neither admitted nor proven, the issue of guilt, liability or the particular course of action that may follow assessment cannot be commented upon. Any comment regarding these issues must always be referred to the Church authority and its professional advisers.
15. The records of interview and all other documents or material associated with the assessment are to be treated as confidential. The Director of Professional Standards shall maintain a confidential record of all findings and any documents relevant to the suitability of the person for future ministry. The Director shall not retain any other documents or material for longer than five years following the completion of the assessment unless required to do so by law.

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