Parish

This page is for parishes and church officers looking for guidance and information about safeguarding,

We are committed to ensuring that our churches and buildings are safe places for all. We hope you find all the information you need to support you, your parish or church group in this vital area.

Parish Safeguarding Handbook 

A parish's first step should be to take a look at the Parish Safeguarding Handbook.

Produced by the National Safeguarding Team, it is a comprehensive guide, summarising the key areas a parish will need to address with regards to safeguarding.

There are also useful templates and links to more detailed guidance and forms.

Find it here.

Promoting a Safer Church poster incorporating relevant contact details

Training

Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.

To support this, the House of Bishops has published Safeguarding Training and Development Practice Guidance for those undertaking any role - paid or unpaid - within the Church of England.  

The training is divided into Modules. Some are available online, others are delivered face-to-face.

See an explanation of how it works here.

We run training throughout the year. To find details of dates and modules, please click here.

Safeguarding on parish websites

A parish's safeguarding arrangements should be clearly visible on the front page of the parish website:

This means:

• A link from the front page of your website to a page detailing your safeguarding policy and who’s who - either in the menu bar, or on the body of the page

Here are some examples that you might find helpful:

https://rainhamchurch.co.uk/ (safeguarding tab clearly displayed in top menu)

http://www.augustineofcanterbury.co.uk/ (safeguarding tab clearly displayed in top menu)

If you do not have a website:

• Your parish should offer some information on your parishes dedicated, A Church Near You (ACNY) pages
• The ACNY website has a ‘safeguarding’ tab on every page which will take the user through to a map highlighting diocesan safeguarding details
• The ACNY Editor Help Centre provides blogs on how to use ACNY more widely, including how to become an editor if your church does not yet use the site.

If you have further questions, please contact the Communications team (communications@rochester.anglican.org) who are regularly briefed about ACNY updates and are in contact with the national digital team.

Young people safeguarding cards

Sharing information with young people about where they can access help in the parish with a matter that is worrying them is really important.

To help, we have created a set of child friend wallet cards (digital and printed) which can be localised for each setting.

They include a message of a reassurance that the child or young person will be listened to and believed.

There is room for a church to add it's own Parish Safeguarding contact details as well as other key national helpline numbers.

Once Covid-19 restrictions are eased, a set of cards will be sent to each parish for them to distribute as they wish to the young people in their congregations.

Until then, they are available as a set of images that can be used on a website, social media or perhaps in a presentation.

• Child wallet card (double-sided) download here
• Young person wallet card (double-sided) download here

• Child wallet card single image download here
• Young person wallet card single image download here

Policies

We have developed a range of policies to support you with safeguarding in your parish.

To find all our guidance, as well as material from the House of Bishops, and other relevant organisations. Please click one of the categories below.

Useful contacts and helplines

• NSPCC: 0808 800 5000   
• Childline: 0800 1111  
• Stop    It    Now: 0808 1000 900      
• National    Association    for    People    Abused    in    Childhood    (NAPAC): 0808 801 0331
• Samaritans: 116 123
• thirtyone:eight    (formerly    CCPAS):  0303 003 11 11
• Family    Lives: 0808 800 2222
• Action    On    Elder    Abuse: 080 8808 8141
• National    Domestic    Violence    Helpline:  0808 2000 247

A full comprehensive list of numbers relating to children and young people can be found here

Liturgical resources

Liturgical safeguarding resources for use in churches, including Bible readings, prayers and suggested hymns, chosen in consultation with survivors, are available.

They have been put together and published by the Church of England’s Liturgical Commission and commended by the House of Bishops.

Download them here

We have also produced our own prayers. 

Written by the Venerable Julie Conalty, Archdeacon of Tonbridge - in consultation with a survivor -  they were issued during the third heading of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

They can however, be used at any time. Find them here

Safeguarding Independent Audit

In July 2017 the Diocese of Rochester’s safeguarding arrangements were independently audited by The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), as part of the National Church’s quality assurance programme. The final report was sent to the Diocese in November 2017.

If you would like to read the report. Please click here

Contact us

If you would like to speak to someone in the Diocesan Safeguarding Team, please find their contacts here

From 5pm on Friday through to 9am on Monday Thirtyone:eight (previously CCPAS) has been contracted to take safeguarding telephone enquries, that cannot wait until the Diocesan office reopens on Monday morning. Telephone number 0303 003 11 11