The produced by the Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection (SCYP) in 2024, describes the progress of Catholic dioceses/eparchies in implementing victim assistance and child protection policies and programs in the United States, particularly those found within the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The audit process measures compliance with the articles of the Charter. The Statement of Episcopal Commitment and Essential Norms, found after the Charter within the same booklet, are not the purview of the audit.
The Annual Report is based on an annual audit process, carried out between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023, by Stonebridge Business Partners.
Included in the report are findings regarding diocesan/eparchial compliance with the Charter, recommendations from the auditor on how Charter implementation can be improved, a progress report from the Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection on its activities, and data regarding allegations, safe environment programs, background checks, financial costs related to allegations and child protection efforts in dioceses/eparchies, and more from Stonebridge and/or the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA).
Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate
This report compiles and summarizes the 20 years of annual surveys, cumulatively enumerating the allegations (those deemed credible as well as others), the details about the credible allegations, the details about the alleged perpetrators, and the costs related to the support services provided to victims and the settlements. Also included are the costs expended annually for safeguarding and child protection efforts. It also examines the evolution of the questions included in the surveys and the effect these changes had on the findings. Also examined are the differences by decades, with the first decade of survey results (2004-2013) compared to the second decade of survey results (2014-2023).