You can find many useful resources and templates on the Church of England's website, including model forms and policies that you can adapt for your own parishes.
The Parish Safeguarding Handbook aims to further strengthen the Church’s approach to safeguarding by bringing into one place the safeguarding responsibilities for parishes as outlined in the House of Bishops’ Safeguarding Policy and Practice Guidance. It has been designed to support the day-to-day work of all parishes in relation to safeguarding and those who have a key role to play with children, young people and adults who may be vulnerable. The only information which has been updated since the handbook was published is the safeguarding training, please visit the training page for more information.
Safer Environment and Activities Guidance (2019) - This document provides parishes with detailed guidance about Promoting a Safer Environment. It is intended to act as a ‘How to…’ guide to help churches meet that commitment in their everyday ministry. It covers topics such as expected standards of behaviour, adult-to-child ratios, parental consent, and risk assessments for activities. It has been produced to give clear guidance to many of the questions that parishes most often ask about keeping people safe in church.
The Code of Safer Working Practice for volunteers and staff can also be found in the Parish Safeguarding Handbook, Section 11: A Safe Environment and Activities, as can guidance on Acceptable Touch.
You can find further policies and guidance, including the Lone Working Policy here.
The Liturgy for Commissioning Parish Safeguarding Officers, to be used in your own services, can be found here.
You can subscribe to our Diocese of Oxford Safeguarding newsletter 'A safer Church for all' by clicking on the image above, and you can read previous editions here.
You can also read safeguarding news and views from the National Safeguarding Team here.
You can find contact details for local authority and social services here.
Parish Safeguarding Dashboard and Hub
The Safeguarding Dashboards and Hubs are great tools to help parishes with safeguarding and to make administration and governance simpler.
Find out more on our dedicated page: Parish Safeguarding Dashboard and Hub
You can log on to your Dashboard or Hub via www.parishdashboards.org.uk - if you cannot access them please contact safeguarding@oxford.anglican.org
Promoting a Safer Church
Safeguarding is something we can all play a part in. As a diocese we are committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults to worship and grow in Christ safely.
All churches and parish buildings should display a poster promoting the Safeguarding Policy and contact details of local safeguarding professionals and PSOs. You can download a variety of such posters here, or if you would like copies sent to you in the post please contact safeguarding@oxford.anglican.org
We have developed another poster to help children and young people identify who they can approach for support in their parish. Download here, or get in touch to be sent hard copies.
Further rescources
Thirtyone:eight is a Christian organisation, inspired to 'speak out on behalf of the voiceless, and for the rights of all who are vulnerable' as it says in Proverbs 31:8 from where they get their name. You can find a wide range of resources, publications, support and training on their website.
You can access slides from Julie O’Hara, Deputy Director (Development) of the National Safeguarding Team, of her presentation ‘Managing the risk of those who present a risk of harm, in a church context’.
These are the case scenarios used for discussion as part of the presentation.
Julie used this presentation in a workshop for PSOs as part of our event at Christ Church Cathedral on Safeguarding Sunday 2023, find out more about it here.
The Safeguarding Virtual Library is a digital platform where individuals across the Church can access specific resources to help them in their understanding and practice of safeguarding. Anyone who has done any safeguarding training through the Safeguarding Training Portal should have login details, if you need any assistance please contact safeguarding@oxford.anglican.org
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