Parish Safeguarding Policy

for the parishes of West Downland Benefice

The following policy was agreed at the PCC meeting held on 11th April 2019. and reviewed at each APCM subsequently.

We are 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 adults when they are vulnerable
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.
We will carefully select and train all those with any responsibility within the Church, in line with safer recruitment principles, including the use of Disclosure and Barring Service criminal records checks.
We will respond without delay to every complaint made which suggests that an adult, child or young person may have been harmed, co-operating with the police and local authority in any investigation and we will have a clear reporting procedure in place.
We will seek to work with anyone who has suffered abuse, developing with him or her an appropriate ministry of informed pastoral care.
We will seek to challenge any abuse of power, especially by anyone in a position of trust.
We will seek to offer pastoral care and support, including supervision and referral to the proper authorities, to any member of our church community known to have offended against a child, young person or vulnerable adult.
In all these principles we will follow statute, guidance and recognised good practice.
We will advise the Diocese which Registered Body we use to process applications for Disclosure and Barring Service criminal records checks.
We will advise the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser if we receive a Disclosure which is ‘blemished’ or ‘positive’.
We will review this policy annually, check that our policies are up to date, and supply a copy of the updated policy statement to the Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser.

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