Child Safety Comes First!

I read with some sadness two letters published in today’s Methodist Recorder on the subject of Safeguarding; sadness because people are still protesting against the need for Safeguarding training.

In last week’s Methodist Recorder there was a report about a formal enquiry by the Methodist Church in response to the case of a former local preacher and church employee who was given an indeterminate sentence in June 2010 for sexual abuse.  A number of faults were identified, including “a lack of safeguarding training in local areas’.

In this week’s Methodist Recorder we have a letter from a gentleman who has decided to “sever all links with Methodism”.  What has prompted this momentous and no doubt personally painful decision?  The requirement that as a church office holder he attend a special meeting concerning the safeguarding of children in the Methodist Church.  Apparently the same church will also be losing its stewards, secretary, treasurer and organist/choir mistress for the same reason.

I have not had the opportunity to read the “Safeguarding Update 2011” document and understand that some of the wording in that document could be taken in the wrong way as is evident from one phrase in the letter, “Fascist- like decree”.  The writer of the letter and his fellow church leaders have clearly taken it this way and unintended offence has been caused.

At a local level I have heard complaints about CRB checks and about Safeguarding training; usually from leaders who have been working with children for many years and have always striven to provide a safe environment for those in their care.  They sometimes feel that their own integrity is being questioned or that their competence is in doubt.  I can understand where these people are coming from although, as you will see, I believe that the Safeguarding training and meetings are not only necessary but absolutely essential.

As Christians we have a duty to care for and love all those whose lives we come into contact with and I am convinced that this is especially the case when it comes to children and vulnerable adults.  The report into the case of the local preacher convicted of child sexual abuse, detailed above, mentioned a lack of safeguarding training as one of the contributive causes.  If the introduction of such training means that one less child is harmed then surely no reasonable person could protest about it.

I have had the fortune to be able to attend Safeguarding training courses, as a Sunday school teacher and Student Minister.  I have learnt something new on each occasion and I am one of those who could legitimately claim to have always striven to provide a safe environment for those in my (and others) care.  What I have learnt on these courses has enabled me to do that, in co-operation with others, even more effectively.

To some the requirement for attendance at meetings or even training in safeguarding training may seem like bureaucratic nonsense, even like the spirit of the world invading the church; but to me anything that we can do to make our churches a safe space for children and vulnerable adults should be welcomed and embraced enthusiastically.