YMCA sought secrecy over sex abuse allegations against childcare worker YMCA employee Jonathan Lord was jailed for abusing children in his care. THE YMCA tried to keep a lid on information when sex abuse allegations were made against an association childcare worker, a national inquiry has been told. The second hearing of the royal commission sitting in Sydney is looking at how sex abuse allegations against YMCA employee Jonathan Lord were handled by the voluntary organisation. Lord, 26, was sentenced in January this year to 10 years in prison, with a non-parole period of six years, for molesting 12 boys aged between six and 11. Gail Furness, senior counsel for the commission, outlined how Lord ingratiated himself with staff, parents and children associated with the YMCA between 2009 and 2011. In that time he committed multiple sexual abuse offences against children aged between six and 11. In September 2011, on a bus trip from a circus factory, he asked an eight-year-old boy if he had ever played a game where "two best friends play tongue wrestling," Ms Furness said. The child known as AF told his mother, who complained to the association and to police in Miranda. The general manager of YMCA's children's services, Liam Whitley, circulated a memo to staff at the Caringbah YMCA where Lord worked, informing them he had been stood down pending a police investigation, she said. Staff were advised to tell parents "they were unfamiliar with the incident." On October 7 Mr Whitely told staff Lord was taking a leave of absence from work for personal reasons and they should respect his privacy. Staff were later asked to sign a confidentiality agreement which said that if they made an "unauthorised disclosure on this investigation during my employment with YMCA in Sydney, I may be subject to disciplinary action, including termination." They were also told the YMCA was following police instructions. Parents were also told that police had given a clear directive to YMCA staff and management not to "discuss the details of the allegations." Ms Furness said police were expected to give evidence that YMCA was not directed by police not to communicate with the families and did not "advise the YMCA to have their staff sign confidentiality agreements." She said the hearing would be told Jonathan Lord was highly regarded by his colleagues - "it was more than a job to him, and he put in a lot of effort." She also said the YMCA Safeguarding Children Policy contained within it a general code of conduct discouraging some of the behaviours Lord engaged in, including babysitting. The hearing would provide insight into how children, their parents and work colleagues could be groomed by offenders to gain access to children for the purposes of sexual abuse. The commission heard a statement from the YMCA read by its legal counsel Gregory Sirtes, who said that if Lord could infiltrate an organisation like theirs, there was a critical need for improvement.