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Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults

Safeguarding (Protection of children and vulnerable adults)

The Government is bringing in new rules about the checks that people need in order to work with children and vulnerable adults.

It is not yet clear exactly what effect these new rules will have on paid church workers and volunteers who have contact with children. However:

Safeguarding (child protection) is still important. 'Good practice', in the way that you care for children and vulnerable adults in your parish, and ensure their safety, remains 'good practice'.

The fact that the Government is making changes to the way that Criminal Records Checks are carried out does not mean that child protection practices or CRBs have been scrapped.

Until we have any more information, please carry on using the policy which you can find below.

In particular:

• Always make sure that church is a place where children are safe from harm
• Each parish should have a child protection policy in place, and a child protection representative
• Make sure children know whom they can go to if they feel unsafe
• Use the policy to recruit paid workers and volunteers safely
• You must contact your archdeacon if you suspect abuse, or if you stop anyone working with children on protection grounds

If you have any urgent questions please contact your archdeacon.

We have a responsibility to care for one another, and to keep people safe from harm. It is especially important that children and vulnerable adults are protected. This is a principle that is recognised, both from the viewpoint of faith, and also in the context of the law. In these pages you will find a guide to good practice and the requirements of the law. You can find out more about protecting vulnerable adults at the Church of England website.

Good protection procedures mean that the best work can be done in the best possible way. There is no need to think that they inhibit paid and volunteer workers from taking part in the appropriate nurture of, and interaction with, children and vulnerable adults. It is helpful to keep the overall aim in mind: to create a culture of informed vigilance. That means that everyone is aware of the importance of good practice, has a right sense of proportion according to professional advice, and takes action if anything seems wrong.

The full pack is available for download below, along with documents summing up the essentials and our allegations policy, and the associated forms are available to download from the Forms and Resources page.

Thank you for everything you are doing to promote good practice in the Diocese of York.

Protecting All God’s Children

The fourth edition of Protecting All God’s Children, the Church of England’s child protection policy since 1995, has been published today (Wednesday, November 24). Since the last edition, in 2004, a significant amount of new legislation and statutory guidance has been produced concerning the safeguarding of children, most notably the Children Act 2004 and Working Together to Safeguard Children 2010, which has been incorporated into the revised policy document. The policy is freely available to download from the Church of England website.

Children, Teenagers, Parents and Teachers: THINK-U-KNOW?

With areas for children aged 5-7s, 8-10,s,11-16's, as well as for parents and teachers this is a very good awareness web site with a lot of information, videos and links that you may find helpful in keeping children and young people safe: Go to: THINK-U-KNOW

NSPCC's Safe Network

The NSPCC's Safe Network provides safeguarding information related to activities outside the home – from after school art clubs to weekend reading groups. Their website provides excellent, esy to understand advice, and the Safe Network Standards (pdf document) can be downloaded here.