Safeguarding
Parish Safeguarding PolicyThis policy statement on safeguarding children and adults in the Church was adopted by St. Bernard’s (Parish) at a Parochial Church Council meeting held on 11th August 2019 and was last reviewed on 28th July 2026 The Parish Church Council of St. Bernard’s recognises the need to safeguard the children, young people and adults in our care and guard against the possibility of any form of abuse of children, young people and adults by persons who may be acting in the name of our parish. We aim to create a safe environment for the nurture and development of children, young people and adults, in order for them to feel valued and confident to ask for support and help. We will create policies and procedures that uphold the importance of our responsibility to protect and safeguard the welfare of children, young people and adults entrusted to our care. A Parish Safeguarding Co-ordinator will be appointed to ensure the implementation of this policy.
· We commit to providing a safe physical environment for work with children, young people and adults
· We recognise that everyone has different levels of vulnerability and that each of us may be regarded as vulnerable at some time in our lives.
· As members of this parish we commit ourselves to respectful pastoral care for all adults to whom we minister.
· We commit ourselves to the safeguarding of people who may be vulnerable, ensuring their well-being in the life of this church.
· We commit ourselves to promoting safe practice by those in positions of trust.
· The parish commits itself to promoting the inclusion and empowerment of people who may be vulnerable.
· We commit to informing the whole church community about our safeguarding policy and procedures and recognise that it is the responsibility of each of us to prevent and report abuse that we discover or suspect
· We will ensure the children; young people and adults in our care know who they can talk to if they have any concerns
· We recognise our responsibility to always respond to and report abuse in whatever context, inside or outside the church environment and will always listen to and take seriously any child, young person or adult who reports that they have been abused
· We will always report allegations of abuse and concerns about a child, young person or an adult who is experiencing or at risk of abuse due to their, illness or disability in accordance with our procedures
· We will always report all allegations of abuse against Church Officers* to the appropriate statutory agency and to the Bishop’s Safeguarding Adviser and co-operate with any investigation
· We will keep all records in relation to safeguarding concerns, allegations and the recruitment of volunteers and paid workers securely
· We commit to the safe recruitment of all new and current Church Officers* who have contact with children, young people and adults experiencing or at risk of abuse due to their, illness or disability
· We will assess all new and current Church Officer* roles and, in every case where the role is deemed to be eligible, apply for an appropriate level criminal record check every three years
· We commit to providing every Church Officer* with clear instructions and information in respect of their role, adequate resources and support and regular opportunities for review
· We will ensure that all Church Officers* working with children, young people and adults experiencing or at risk of abuse due to their age illness disability or are in a trusted role attend Church of England safeguarding training every three years
· We will inform the Bishop’s Safeguarding Adviser, and ensure appropriate supervision, of anyone who is known to have offended against a child, young person or an adult at risk of abuse due to their age, illness or disability who attends activities organised by the Parish Church Council of St. Bernard’s, Hamstead and will follow all recommendations of the Bishop’s Safeguarding Adviser in this regard
· We require all hirers of our premises to have their own safeguarding policy and procedures, to provide us with an assurance that these are implemented and to provide us with a copy
· The parish adopts the Promoting a Safer Church (2017)policy commitments and all safeguarding practice guidance of The Church of England and procedures in place in The Church of England–Birmingham for their implementation
· The policy will be reviewed each year to monitor the progress which has been achieved
· We will review our safeguarding policy annually to ensure that it meets all current legislation, House of Bishop’s and The Church of England–Birmingham policies and practice guidance
· Each person who works with vulnerable people will agree to abide by these recommendations and the guidelines established by this church.
This church appoints Beccy Heath to represent the concerns and views of vulnerable people at our meetings and to outside bodies as the parish safeguarding co-ordinator.
This church appoints Beccy Heath as a lead parish identity verifier to process online Disclosure and Barring Service applications
Incumbent...................................................................................
Churchwarden.......................................................
Churchwarden...................................................
Date.....................................
*A ‘Church Officer’ is anyone appointed by or on behalf of the Church to a post or role, whether they are ordained or lay, paid or unpaid. The parish should provide details of how the above policy statements will be implemented in the parish
Appendices and Safeguarding procedures
Appendix A: Definitions Page 4-5
Appendix B: Signs of abuse Page 6
Appendix C: Promoting a safer Church Page 7-8
Appendix D: What to do when you have information Page 9-10
about a serious safeguarding situation
Appendix E: Safeguarding Records Page 11
Appendix F: Good Practice when working with Page 12-13
children and young people
Appendix G: Safe Recruitment of volunteers and paid workers Page 14
Appendix H: Safe recruitment of ex-offenders Page 15-16
Appendix I: Responding well to those Page 17-18
who have been sexually abused
Appendix J: Process for managing complaints against Page 19-20
the implementation of the Parish Safeguarding
policy
Appendix K: Fact sheet – Sexting Page 21-22
Appendix L: Photography Consent form and Privacy notice Page 23-25
Appendix M: Transport consent form Page 26-27
Appendix N: Risk Assessment templates – link Page 28
Appendix O: Model recording template Page 29-32
Appendix P: Registration form for activities and trips Page 33-34
Appendix Q: Volunteer driver Page 35-37
Appendix Q: Social Media use Page 38
APPENDIX A: DEFINITIONS
The following is taken from the Church of Birmingham Safeguarding website
http://www.cofebirmingham.com/hub/safeguarding
Abuse: The abuse of a child or adult involves significant harm that will have an impact on them not just whilst it is happening but potentially for the rest of their lives. Any action that causes significant harm, whether intentional or unintentional, is abuse.
Protection: In different ways, children and vulnerable adults need special care
and protection.
A Child is: someone up to the age of 18 years.
A Young Person is: someone between the ages of 14 to 17 years.
A Vulnerable Adult: ‘Promoting a Safer Church’ which is the Church of
England’s Safeguarding Policy for Children, Young People and Adults (2017) defines a vulnerable adult as someone age 18 or over, whose ability to protect themselves is significantly impaired through physical or mental disability, or illness, old age, emotional fragility or distress or otherwise, either temporarily or indefinitely. Both need special care and protection.
Perpetrators of Abuse: Anyone can perpetrate abuse. He/she may be a child or an adult of any gender, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, religion, ethnicity or culture. Knowledge of and sensitivity to racial, cultural and religious patterns is crucial to good safeguarding practice, but none of these can ever be used to justify or condone the abuse of a person.
The following Categories of Abuse apply to Children and Adults:
Physical Abuse: is the causing of physical harm to a person. It can include fabricating or inducing illness in a child, inappropriate restraint, the misuse of medicines or force-feeding.
Neglect: includes failure to meet a child’s basic physical or psychological needs or withholding adequate care of a vulnerable adult which means their basic needs are not met. A mother can neglect her unborn child through substance misuse and an adult can self-neglect.
Emotional Abuse: includes making a person feel worthless, humiliated, ashamed or afraid to the extent that it affects their emotional health and development. It can include bullying and harassment, control or coercion or depriving a person of social contact with others.
Sexual Abuse of a Child: includes both physical sexual abuse and non-physical sexual abuse, including making, watching, distributing sexual images of a child sexting, grooming for sexual abuse or encouraging sexually inappropriate behaviour. Child Sexual Exploitation can include organised gangs manipulating or coercing young people into sexual activity.
Sexual Abuse of an Adult: occurs when informed consent for sexual activity (including non-contact sexual activity such as indecent exposure) is not freely given e.g. when a person is controlled or coerced or they lack cognitive capacity to give consent.
.
Pastoral Responsibility: Sexual activity with a child under 18 or a vulnerable adult for whom you have pastoral responsibility will always be sexual abuse.
Domestic Abuse: includes any form of abuse, violent, sexual or controlling behaviours by persons over the age of 16 who are, or have been intimate partners or family members, regardless of gender or sexuality. Children can be directly or indirectly affected by domestic abuse in their household.
Spiritual Abuse: is not a formally recognised category of abuse but is of concern to faith communities. It includes using religious belief to justify abuse, such as using physical or emotional harm to ‘deliver’ a person from evil spirits or witchcraft or for the control or coercion of a person.
Grooming: is using a power imbalance in a relationship to control or coerce a person into doing something they do not want to do, or gaining a person’s total trust or ‘love’ so that they will do anything their abuser asks.
The following Categories of Abuse apply to Adults:
Financial Abuse: misusing or refusing access to someone else’s money, property or possessions, or manipulating or extorting someone into handing over their money.
Institutional Abuse: occurs when an organisation’s policies and practices are more important than the individual person’s needs and wishes, so that good standards of care according to individual choice are not provided.
Discriminatory Abuse: includes any form of abuse that is based on a person’s race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, culture or ethnicity.
The Internet, Social Media, Smart Phones etc.
These can be used by adults and children to form relationships in order to abuse or to disclose abuse or to perpetrate abuse such as distributing images or bullying.
The Trafficking of Adults and Children
This can be for sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, ‘sweat shop labour’ or any other form of exploitation.
APPENDIX B: SIGNS OF ABUSE
This Appendix is also taken from the Church of Birmingham Safeguarding website http://www.cofebirmingham.com/hub/safeguarding
‘A Brief Guide to the Categories of Abuse, for Leaders and Helpers’
There are many different signs of abuse, some of which may indicate that something other than abuse is happening in the person’s life. We should always be concerned when a person’s:
· behaviour is out of character for them
· appearance or hygiene deteriorates
· behaviour is fearful
· trying to hide something
· physical injuries have no satisfactory explanation or occur repeatedly
It is reasonable to explore concerns by saying things like
“That bruise looks painful, how did it happen?” or
“You don’t seem yourself at the moment, are you okay?”
If you work with children or vulnerable adults in a voluntary or employed
capacity:
you must understand what abuse is and the signs to look for.
For a more detailed guide to abuse see the fact sheets on the safeguarding children and adult pages of the Church of England Birmingham website at
www.cofebirmingham.com/hub/safeguarding
or complete the Basic Safeguarding Awareness e-learning module
at https://safeguardingtraining.cofeportal.org/
APPENDIX C: Promoting a Safer Church
Promoting a Safer Church Parish Policy StatementThe Parochial Church Council of St. Bernard’s Hamstead
agreed to adopt all of the House of Bishop’s safeguarding policy and practice guidance and The Church of England – Birmingham’s procedures for their implementation on
All forms of abuse are wrong and must stop
The care and protection of children, young people and vulnerable adults involved in Church activities is the responsibility of the whole Church. Everyone who participates in the life of the Church has a role to play in promoting a safer Church for all.
Our commitments:
1. Promoting a safer environment and culture 2. Safely recruiting and supporting all those with any responsibility related to children and vulnerable adults within the Church 3. Responding promptly to every safeguarding concern or allegation 4. Caring pastorally for victims/survivors of abuse and other affected persons 5. Caring pastorally for those who are the subject of concerns or allegations of abuse and other affected persons 6. Responding to those that may pose a present risk to othersWe will implement good safeguarding practice by ensuring: