Safeguarding Policy: Children, Young People and Vulnerable Adults
Parish of St Leonard, Sandridge in the Church of England Diocese of St Albans
as reviewed and adopted at the Parochial Church Council meeting, March 6th 2022
St Leonard's is a church integrated into its local community. We seek to be an outward-looking, growing and prayerful Christian community that welcomes and adapts to all ages.
We believe:
Every person has a value and dignity which comes directly from the creation of male and female in God’s own image and likeness. We see this potential as fulfilled by God’s re-creation of us in Christ. Among other things this implies a duty to value all people as bearing the image of God and therefore to protect them from harm.
We are therefore committed to:
- the care, nurture of, and respectful pastoral ministry with, all children and all adults
- the safeguarding and protection of all children, young people and vulnerable adults
- the establishing of safe, caring communities which provide a loving environment where there is a culture of ‘informed vigilance’ as to the dangers of abuse.
Our responsibilities are as follows.
- We are committed to implementing a safeguarding policy for children, young people and vulnerable adults and procedures accepting the House of Bishops’ Protecting All God’s Children (4th edition 2010) and other relevant policies produced by appropriate authorities within the Church of England. The Parish will follow the Diocesan Procedures and recommended good practice.
- We will review and endorse all safeguarding procedures annually so that all members are aware of their responsibilities.
- We will maintain the highest standards in all the Church’s contacts with children, young people and vulnerable adults. Adult volunteers will be given appropriate support and opportunities for training.
- We will respond without delay to every disclosure made in relation to the harm of a child, young person or vulnerable adult for whom we are responsible.
- A form recording and monitoring the incident will be completed which is shared with Parish Safeguarding Officer/Vicar and held confidential thereafter.
- We will co-operate fully with the statutory agencies in every situation and will not conduct our own investigations, in-line with Best Practise Guidelines.
- We will seek to offer informed pastoral care to any child, young person or adult who has suffered abuse.
- We will care for and supervise any member of our church community known to have offended against a child, young person or vulnerable adult; in consultation with Diocese Safeguarding Officer.
- The PCC acknowledges its responsibility for all work with children, young people and vulnerable adults done in the name of the Church and requires all those engaged in such work to be properly appointed and supported in accordance with the House of Bishops’ Safeguarding Guidelines Relating to Safer Recruitment (Oct 2010) and Diocesan Procedures and guidelines.
We will seek the support and advice of the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser in the implementation of this policy.
In the implementation of this policy we shall:
- adopt and implement safeguarding procedures in line with the commitments made above
- appoint at least one co-ordinator to work with the incumbent and the parochial church council (PCC) to implement policy and procedures; the co-ordinator must ensure that any concerns about a child, young person or adult or the behaviour of an adult are appropriately reported both to the statutory agencies and to the diocesan safeguarding adviser
- consider appointing a person, who may be different from the co-ordinator, to be a children’s advocate; this should be someone whom children know they could talk to about any problems, if they so wish.
- display in church premises where children’s activities take place, the contact details of the co-ordinator or children’s advocate, along with the ‘Childline’ and ‘Family Lives’ telephone numbers
- ensure that all those working with children are appropriately supervised, according to safeguarding practice, are DBS checked where appropriate and are trained and supported
- ensure that there is appropriate insurance cover and risk assessments for all activities involving children, young people and vulnerable adults undertaken in the name of the parish
- review the implementation of the safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults policy and best practise guidelines at least annually
- ensure that all those who regularly work with children, young people or vulnerable adults including those who work on a rota, should have Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, that those who work on an occasional basis will be asked to apply for DBS checks if they fulfil the legal requirements; those who manage or supervise those who work with vulnerable groups will also be required to obtain DBS checks, and those in a leadership capacity who carry responsibility for safeguarding will be required to obtain DBS checks at voluntary level; we will check against the children’s, young people and voluntary adults bar list, where relevant to their voluntary duties
- we will learn from any incident that arises so as to improve and develop our practices.
This policy takes into account The Church of England Policy Statement 2017, Promoting a Safer Church.
In adopting this Policy, the PCC also adopts the following House of Bishops policies:
- Promoting a Safer Church,
- 2006 Protecting All God’s Children,
- 2010 Responding Well to those who have been sexually abused,
- 2011 Responding Well to Domestic Abuse, 2017
Other Documents/Policies linked to this policy
- St Albans Diocese Policy for Safeguarding Adults when they are Vulnerable
- Policy for Safeguarding Children
- St Leonard’s Church Sandridge Safeguarding Incident Form
- A Safer Church – The Church of England
- Risk Assessments – Craft Church
- Best Practise Guidelines – Diocese of St Albans
St Leonard’s Safeguarding Team:-
Anne Peck – Parish Safeguarding Officer and Children’s Advocate
Kathy Tilney – Safeguarding Administrator
Jez Hirst Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser
Diocese of St Albans, Holywell Lodge, 41 Holywell Hill, St Albans AL1 1HE
01727 818107 | 07867 350886 | safeguarding@stalbans.anglican.org
More information on the Church of England’s National Safeguarding can be found here: www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding
More information about Safeguarding in the Diocese of St. Albans can be found here: https://www.stalbans.anglican.org/diocese/safeguarding