Statistics

Safe from
Harm

A Church
Policy

The
Memory
Debate

Helping
Survivors

Inspirations

The Shepherd Guards the Flock

Just as the shepherd guards the flock, so responsible church leaders seek to protect the children and young people entrusted to their care. The question most often asked is "how?"

We would suggest that the best means of protecting children and young people, together with those who work with them, is an authorised church child protection policy, with guidelines for best practice. Below is a child protection policy based upon the UK government guidelines, 'Safe from Harm' to be used as a basis for preparing a policy. It must be remembered that any document should be amended to meet the regulations and laws currently in force in the country in which it is to be used and the needs of the church.

• Introduction
• How to formulate a church policy
• A Church statement for the protection of children
• Safe from Harm - the Home Office Code of Practice
• The purpose of the document
• What is a Child? What is abuse? Who abuses children?
• How we might recognise abuse?
• What to do if abuse is suspected
• Responding to abuse
• Third Party / Anonymous referrals / allegations
• How should we react if a child tells us he/she has been abused
• Practicalities for mutual protection of leaders and children involved in children's work
• Confidentiality
• Contact names
• Discipline in children's work
• Job application form
• Job description

A full church child protection policy is available to be copied. This is completely free for you to use but we would ask that you change the document to suit your local conditions, regulations and laws. For UK churches Click here, for the policy which is used in our home church. For churches from other countries Click here for a policy based on Safe from Harm, which could be used as a basis to prepare a policy.

Our thanks go to the following organisations for help in producing this document.

• The PCCA - Churches Child Protection Advisory Service
• Friends in the Methodist and Anglican Churches
• Norfolk County Council - Child Care Services
• Nottingham Christian Centre