This is a specific pathway only for non-Church Officers.
- Section 1: Triage and Referrals
- Section 2: Initial Contact
- Section 3: Safeguarding Case Management Group
- Section 4C: Managing Safeguarding risks in the Church Community
- Introduction and Definitions
- 4C.1 Deciding whether the person is a risk
- 4C.2 – 4C.6 Approach to risk assessment
- 4C.7 – 4C.9 The Church Safety Plan
- 4C.10 – 4C.12 Church Safety Plans Reviews
- 4C.13 Sharing information about the Church Safety Plan
- Section 5: Risk Assessment
- Section 6: Outcomes, Closure and Long-term risk management
Introduction and definitions
The Church of England, based on the message of the Gospel, opens its doors to all. This includes children, young people and vulnerable adults, but it also includes those persons who have committed offences, sometimes of a very serious nature, and who may have their own vulnerabilities. There is evidence that supports the important role of faith and the role of the Church in the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders and ex-offenders in society1 . In order to ensure that church settings remain safe and accessible to all, a planned and considered welcome to those who may pose safeguarding risks is needed.
Further details on the right of persons to attend church services in contained in Appendix 4.
This section sets out the steps, requirements and guidance to be followed in situations where a person who is not a Church Officer may present a safeguarding risk to children, young people or vulnerable adults. This pathway does not deal with Church Officers who present a risk, this is dealt with in Sections 4A, B and D-G.
In this section, the term “Church community” is used to refer to a group of people who come together to share their Christian faith or attend Church-related activities, usually around a central point such as a parish or cathedral. These people may come into the Church for brief periods of time or may be regular attendees.
- 1- Byron Johnson and Sung Joon Jang, Crime and Religion: assessing the role of the faith factor, Contemporary Issues in Criminological Theory and Research: The Role of Social Institutions, November 2010. - Fergus McNeill and Beth Weaver, Changing Lives? Desistence Research and Offender Management, Report No. 03/2010, The Scottish Centre for Crime & Justice Research, June 2010.