The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia has confirmed that it is signing up to the National Redress Scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.
Institutions were required to formally notify the Australian National Redress Scheme (NRS) of their intention to opt into the NRS by June 30, 2020. This was done on behalf of the Adventist Church by Adsafe on May 28.
Natalie Renshaw, from Adsafe survivor services and redress, said Adsafe has been working closely with the NRS Taskforce towards the Church and all its relevant entities joining the scheme.
“It is anticipated that the Adventist Church will be a fully participating member of the NRS well before the deadline of December 31, 2020,” Ms Renshaw said.
“In the meantime, for those survivors who wish to access redress now, Adsafe continues to operate its own internal redress scheme.”
The Seventh-day Adventist Church established its internal redress scheme in early 2017 based on recommendations that came out of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and prior to the NRS being set up.
The Church’s internal redress scheme will continue to provide access to redress for survivors both in Australia and New Zealand up to the time the Australian Church officially joins the NRS. After that Australian survivors will be able to choose to access redress either through the NRS or the internal scheme. New Zealand survivors will be able to continue to access redress through the internal scheme.
If you would like to make contact with the Adsafe team for support, advice or to make a report please contact 1800 220 468 (Australia) or 0800 442 458 (New Zealand). For more information go to: adsafe.org.au.
