Webinar - 7 June 2022
Current Practices in Professional/Pastoral Supervision and Accountability:
Clergy Support and Ministry Review
About Safe Church Program
About the Safe Church Program
For over a decade, the Safe Church Program has helped churches and Christian ministries to create safer environments for children and vulnerable adults. The program started organically in 2004 when a number of ministry leaders recognised the need to work on this issue across denominations and churches. Born of several years of dedication and effort, it was initially called the Safe Church Training Agreement. It encompassed Safe Church Awareness and ‘Train the Trainer’ workshops, and the Biennial Safer Churches Conference.
The NCCA oversaw the program via the Safe Church Network, until it formally took ownership of the program in late 2014 with the appointment of a full-time National Coordinator. The program that exists today is focused on helping local church leaders to fulfil their safeguarding requirements ie. pastoral, ethical, legal (i.e. duty of care, child protection, due diligence), insurance and risk management. It also includes the responsibility that churches have for the spiritual, emotional and physical safety of all community members.
The NCCA recognises the findings of the Royal Commission which definitively includes the need for churches to act strategically and proactively to create child safe cultures. These changes should not be left to happen in an ‘organic’ way or pace — what’s clear is that a robust approach, in line with the seriousness of the issue, is required by all church and faith communities to address the issue. To this end, the Safe Church Program worked in consultation with the National Office for Child Safety, state and territory regulatory bodies, the eSafety Commissioner, and both NCCA member churches and non-member churches.
Both NCCA and non-NCCA churches participated via membership, training and an explicit commitment to the key objectives of the Safe Church Program. The existence of the program facilitated high-quality, sustainable, accessible Safe Church workshops for local leaders, both paid and volunteer.
Our value statements
The Safe Church Program was founded on a commitment to protecting the safety of all people within its programs, ministries and events, and supporting organisations to adhere to safety legislation. The value statements we upheld in this work were:
- A zero tolerance stand on all forms of abuse in the church.
- Protection of the rights of and flourishing of all people as the shared commitment in our cultivation of safe church and ministry environments.
- Protection of children and vulnerable people in the community as an imperative of our shared Christian faith.
- Training that is safe for all people and which speaks to the concept of serving together in ministry.
- Respect for the diversity of Christian traditions and an awareness of how these interact with child safety legislation.
- The use of National Standards as the common basis for holistic Safe Church ministry.
- Training which focuses on continual development to create cultures where a Christ-like attitude and behaviour towards all people is exampled by leadership.
Our objectives
The seven key objectives identified by the NCCA for the Safe Church Program were to:
- To respond to the Recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse.
- To provide a National Framework and training standards for churches to benchmark against as they implement the ‘National Principles for Child Safe Organisations’.
- To build churches’ safeguarding capacity through safe church awareness and ‘Train the Trainer’ workshops.
- To ensure that all churches are safe places for all people.
- To provide networking and advocacy opportunities across denominations.
- To encourage cross-sector partnerships and relationships..
- To ensure all training and resourcing is transparent, and hold churches and faith communities accountable for providing safe environments for all people.
National Training Standards
To help make all Australian churches safer, the program provided National Training Standards and resources to guide churches in developing their own workshops and training, and to support churches in educating all stakeholders in the prevention of abuse and misconduct.
NCCA Child Safety Framework
The National Framework and Training Standards for Child Safety were developed by Child Wise in consultation with NCCA Safe Church Program members. The framework and guidance on developing training are based on the National Principles for Child Safety and provide churches and Christian ministries with a suite of information to develop their safeguarding capacity. This includes a self-assessment tool to measure progress on their child safeguarding journey against the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations.
The NCCA Child Safety Framework is still available by request and invoice, more information can be found here.
State and Territory Safe Church Awareness workshops
Safe Church Workshops are informative, engaging and interactive. They are designed to raise everyone’s understanding and awareness of Christian foundations of safe ministry, duty of care, vulnerable people protection (abuse prevention), due diligence in recruiting and supervising church leaders, and risk management.
The Safe Church Awareness workbooks have been designed to deliver content on safeguarding that is broadly applicable to church and Christian ministries within each state and territory of Australia. They address relevant legislation and information on state based regulatory bodies and services.
The Safe Church Program recommends that all church leaders, young people, those involved in ministry to children and those who may be vulnerable, attend a full day SCP Safe Church Awareness Workshop, or complete a similar comprehensive Safe Church training in their first year of ministry, followed by a shorter refresher course at least every 3 years. If you are looking for a Safe Church Awareness Workshop (or equivalent), please contact your denomination's Safe Church, Professional Standards, or other relevant office.
Training and endorsement of new presenters
The Safe Church Program trained workshop presenters around Australia using and endorsement -based recruitment process. This process was developed to ensure those selected to present Safe Church Awareness Workshops are of the highest quality. The endorsement process involved 'Presenter Training' workshops, co-presenting multiple workshops with experienced presenters provision of written feedback, and a reflection and coaching call with the SCP National Coordinator, before receiving full endorsement from the NCCA Safe Church Program. Endorsed Presenters maintained ongoing connection and engagement with each other, and with relevant other groups and organisations.
Please note, the Safe Church Program is no longer directly training new presenters after 2023, however many of our endorsed presenters are still actively facilitating Safe Church workshops around Australia.
Educational and learning
The NCCA Safe Church Program would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been involved in the biennial Safer Churches Conferences from 2004 to 2019. Thank you to all those who have attended from across the churches and who have been part of the Christian community dedicated to making our churches safe places for all people. To all the subject matter experts who have delivered engaging, informative and evidence based research to improve the knowledge and capacity of those involved in safeguarding, thank you for your contributions and partnership.
Other professional education and learning opportunities were offered in 2021-22 in the form of roundtables, webinars and other forums. Additional information, and resources such as webinar recordings, are available under the Education and Learning tab of the Safe Church Program menu bar.
Child Safety Standard: Ten
SAFE CHURCH PROGRAM NATIONAL CHILD SAFETY FRAMEWORK
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“A child safe institution has localised policies and procedures that set out how it maintains a safe environment for children. Policies and procedures should address all aspects of the Child Safe Standards. The implementation of child safe policies and procedures is a crucial aspect of facilitating an institution’s commitment to them.” (Royal Commission, 2017) |
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Human Rights Commission
- About the National Principles
- Download the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations
- National Principles e learning modules
- Download the Charter of Commitment to Children and Young People
- Download the Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy template
- Download the example Child Safe Code of Conduct
- Download the Checklist for online safety
- Download a poster of the ten National Principles
- Guide for parents
National Office for Child Safety
- Introductory self-assessment
- Translations of the National principles for Child Safety
- Complaint Handling Guide: Upholding the rights of children and young people
Baptist Churches NSW & ACT
- https://creatingsafespaces.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Safe-Church-Package-31012020.pdf
- https://creatingsafespaces.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Standards-Safe-Church-Health-Check-221119-2.pdf
Lutheran Church of Australia
- https://www.lca.org.au/new-child-safe-standards-to-be-trialled/
- https://www.lca.org.au/lca-responds-to-child-protection-paper/
ChildSafe
Uniting Church in Australia
NCCA framework
Child Wise resources developed for the NCCA Safe Church Program Framework
Catholic Professional Standards Limited
Lutheran Church Australia
Anglican Diocese of Sydney
Other Resources
CPSL
Office of the Children’s Guardian, NSW
| Australian Catholic University - Institute of Child Protection Studies | ||
| A broad framework that is relevant across all the Standards | ACU Safeguarding Children Capability Framework | |
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Child Safety Standard: Nine
SAFE CHURCH PROGRAM NATIONAL CHILD SAFETY FRAMEWORK
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“Child safe institutions know it is a significant challenge to maintain a safe environment for children in a dynamic organisation. The institution’s leadership maintains vigilance by putting in place systems to frequently monitor and improve performance against the Child Safe Standards. An open culture encourages people to discuss difficult issues and identify and learn from mistakes. Complaints are an opportunity to identify the root cause of a problem and improve policies and practices to reduce the risk of harm to children. Where appropriate, the institution seeks advice from independent specialist agencies to investigate failures and recommend improvements.” (Royal Commission, 2018) |
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NCCA Safe Church Awareness
National Child Safety Framework
Presbyterian Church of Victoria
Other Resources
Catholic Professional Standards Limited
| Australian Catholic University - Institute of Child Protection Studies | ||
| Implementation of the national child safe principles is regularly reviewed and improved. | ||
| Principles and Indicators | ICPS Resource | |
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9.1 The church regularly reviews, evaluates and improves child safe practices |
Tools:
(see also attached page) |
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9.2 Complaints, concerns and safety incidents are analysed to identify causes and systemic failures to inform continuous improvement |
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| 9.3 The church reports on the findings of relevant reviews to staff and volunteers, community and families and children and young people | ||
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Child Safety Standard: Eight
SAFE CHURCH PROGRAM NATIONAL CHILD SAFETY FRAMEWORK
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“Certain physical and online environments can pose a risk to children. Institutions seeking to be child safe could improve safety by analysing and addressing these risks, reducing opportunities for harm and increasing the likelihood that perpetrators would be caught. A child safe institution designs and adapts its physical environment to minimise opportunities for abuse to occur. The institution finds a balance between visibility and children’s privacy and their capacity to engage in creative play and other activities. It consults children about physical environments and what makes them feel safe. Child safe institutions address the potential risks posed in an online environment, educating children and adults about how to avoid harm and how to detect signs of online grooming. The institution articulates clear boundaries for online conduct, and monitors and responds to any breaches of these policies.” (Royal Commission, 2017) |
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Churches of Christ Victoria and Tasmania
eSafety Commissioner
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/report
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide
Uniting Church in Australia
Uniting Church in Australia
NCCA Safe Church Program, Catholic Professional Standards and the eSafety Commissioner
This video is a recording of a webinar hosted by Catholic Professional Standards Ltd (CPSL) and the National Council of Churches, Safe Church Program (NCCA), recorded on May 22 2020. This webinar was originally produced as a training resource intended to assist those in faith contexts in Australia to gain a greater understanding of how to identify, interrupt and report grooming in the online environment. CPSL and NCCA would like to thank the Office of the eSafety Commissioner for their participation in this webinar.
NCCA framework
Child Wise resources developed for the NCCA Safe Church Program Framework
- Risk Assessment - PDF
Other Resources
Catholic Professional Standards Limited
- https://www.cpsltd.org.au/safe-church/national-catholic-safeguarding-standards/standard-eight/
- https://www.cpsltd.org.au/media/1429/ncss-standard-8-implementation-guide-edition-1-2019.pdf
eSafety Cyber Report Team
The eSafety Cyber Report team responds to reports from the public and law enforcement about prohibited online content and works with international partners to get online child sexual abuse material taken down. This role is quite distinct from that of law enforcement, although complementary to it. While the safety commissioner works with law enforcement partners, they don’t hunt offenders and we don’t work to identify victims they leave that specifically to our national police forces, and their international counterparts through INTERPOL.
As part of this 2020’s ANZPAA Police Conference, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant delivered a virtual presentation which explained in detail how eSafety and law enforcement work together for a safer internet. You can watch that here:
- https://vimeo.com/403163340
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/blog/keeping-our-kids-safe-hidden-dangers-online
The principles presented are sound and consistent with the global effort for greater corporate responsibility and accountability in preventing the online distribution of Child Sexual Exploitation.
We Protect Global Alliance Strategic response
INHOPE is a collection of international hotlines that takes reports of online child abuse material and acts to have the content removed from the server where it is being hosted. Not all countries have a hotline, and each hotline operates under different legislation and interacts with their domestic law enforcement agencies in their own way.
A host of nations work well in sharing information and intelligence in this area. INTERPOL maintains a CSE database to help victim identification.
| Australian Catholic University - Institute of Child Protection Studies | ||
| Physical and online environments promote safety and well-being while minimising the opportunity for children and young people to be harmed. | ||
| Principles and Indicators | ICPS Resource | |
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8.1 Staff and volunteers identify and mitigate risks in the online and physical environments without compromising a child’s/ young person’s right to privacy, access to information, social connections and learning opportunities |
Paper: Child maltreatment in organisations: Risk factors and strategies for prevention
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8.2 The online environment is used in accordance with the church’s Code of Conduct and child safety and wellbeing policy and practices |
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8.3 Risk management plans consider risks posed by church settings, activities, and the physical environment |
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8.4 Churches that contract facilities and services from third parties have procurement policies that ensure the safety of children and young people. |
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Child Safety Standard: Seven
SAFE CHURCH PROGRAM NATIONAL CHILD SAFETY FRAMEWORK
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“A child safe institution promotes and provides regular ongoing development opportunities for its staff and volunteers through education and training, beginning with induction. Child safe institutions are ‘learning institutions’, where staff and volunteers at all levels are continually building their ability and capacity to protect children from harm.” (Royal Commission, 2017) |
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Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane
- https://brisbanecatholic.org.au/safeguarding/safeguard/safeguarding-policies-and-procedures/
- https://brisbanecatholic.org.au/safeguarding/national-catholic-safeguarding-standards/
Uniting Church in Australia
Presbyterian Church Victoria
Presbyterian Church Victoria
National Council of Churches in Australia, Safe Church Program
Safe Church Awareness Training
Anglican Diocese of Sydney
Baptist Churches of NSW and ACT
Child Protection Solutions
ChildSafe
Bravehearts
Brisbane School of Theology
Uniting Church in Australia
eSafety Commissioner
Uniting Church in Australia
Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church
eSafety Commissioner
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/educators
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/educators/corporate-community-education/youth-organisations
Other Resources
Catholic Professional Standards Limited
| Australian Catholic University - Institute of Child Protection Studies | ||
| Staff and volunteers are equipped with the knowledge, skills and awareness to keep children and young people safe through ongoing education and training. | ||
| Principles and Indicators | ICPS Resource | |
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7.1 Staff and volunteers are trained and supported to effectively implement the church’s Child Safety and Well-being policy |
Tools and resources: |
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7.2 Staff and volunteers receive training to recognise indicators of child harm, including child sexual abuse, and harm caused by other children and young people |
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7.3 Staff and volunteers receive training to respond effectively to issues of child safety and well-being, and support colleagues who disclose harm. |
Guide: Promoting Safety from Sexual Abuse and Harm in Community Service Organisations
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17.4 Staff and volunteers receive training and information on how to build culturally safe environments for children and young people. |
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Child Safety Standard: Six
SAFE CHURCH PROGRAM NATIONAL CHILD SAFETY FRAMEWORK
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“A child-focused complaints process is an important strategy for helping children and others in institutions to make complaints. Child safe institutions respond to complaints by immediately protecting children at risk and addressing complaints promptly, thoroughly and fairly. A child safe institution has clear and detailed policies and procedures about how to respond to complaints. Staff and volunteers understand their responsibility for making a complaint promptly if they become aware of concerning behaviours, as well as their reporting obligations to external authorities. Complaint processes specify steps that need to be taken to comply with requirements of procedural fairness for affected parties, have review mechanisms, and ensure any disciplinary action that is taken withstands external scrutiny in accordance with relevant employment law and other employer responsibilities.” (Royal Commission, 2017) |
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National Office for Child Safety
- The Complaint Handling Guide: Upholding the Rights of Children and Young People provides practical advice to organisations about how to develop, implement and maintain a complaint-handling system that prioritises child safety and promotes the rights of children and young people to have a voice in decisions that affect them.
Presbyterian Church Victoria
An overview of the complaints process can be found in the Policy, Procedure & Practice Manual on pages 3-4 and in diagram form on pages 7-8. Information about the reportable Conduct Scheme can be found on and on page 9.
NCCA framework
Child Wise resources developed for the NCCA Safe Church Program Framework
Presbyterian Church Victoria
Presbyterian Church Victoria
- Policy and Procedure Manual –page 22
Office of the Children’s Guardian, NSW
Commission for Children and Young People Victoria
- A Guide for Faith Communities on the Reportable Conduct Scheme provides general information to support religious and faith-based organisations comply with the Victorian Reportable Conduct Scheme - https://ccyp.vic.gov.au/assets/Uploads/religious-orgs-guidance-web-lower-resolution.pdf
Catholic Professional Standards/State and Territory listings
eSafety Commissioner
For child protection related matters, please refer to state/territory child protection authorities:
- New South Wales - Department of Family and Community Services
- Victoria - Department of Health and Human Services
- Queensland - Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women
- Western Australia - Department of Communities, Child Protection and Family Support
- South Australia - Department for Child Protection
- Tasmania - Department of Health and Human Services
- Australian Capital Territory – Community Services Directorate
- Northern Territory – Territory Families
Other Resources
Catholic Professional Standards Limited
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Child Safety Standard: Five
SAFE CHURCH PROGRAM NATIONAL CHILD SAFETY FRAMEWORK
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“Human resource management, through screening, recruitment and ongoing performance review can play an important role in protecting children from harm. Child-focused human resource practices help screen out people unsuitable for working with children or discourage their application. Such practices make sure child safety is prioritised in advertising, recruiting, employment screening, and selecting and managing staff and volunteers. During induction processes, all staff and volunteers should be given clear conduct and behavioural guidelines, such as a code of conduct. Child safe institutions recognise that Working With Children checks can detect only a subset of people who are unsuitable to work with children, and that these checks should be part of a suite of screening practices” (Royal Commission, 2017). |
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Uniting Church in Australia
Churches of Christ Victoria and Tasmania
NCCA framework
Child Wise resources developed for the NCCA Safe Church Program Framework
Working With Children Checks - State and Territory Information
NSW
Western Australia
Queensland
Victoria
- Department of Justice and Community Safety (Victoria) - https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/home/
Tasmania
- Department of Justice (Tasmania) - https://www.cbos.tas.gov.au/topics/licensing-and-registration/registrations/work-with-vulnerable-people
Northern Territory
ACT
Uniting Church in Australia
South Australia
Northern Territory
ChildSafe
- Safety Management Organisations/subscription - https://www.childsafe.org.au/pricing/
Other Resources
Catholic Professional Standards Limited
Presbyterian Church Victoria
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Child Safety Standard: Four
SAFE CHURCH PROGRAM NATIONAL CHILD SAFETY FRAMEWORK
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A child safe institution pays attention to equity by taking into account children’s diverse circumstances. It recognises that some children are more vulnerable to sexual abuse than others, or find it harder to speak up and be heard, and makes the necessary adjustment to equally protect all children. A child safe institution would tailor standard procedures to ensure these children have fair access to the relationships, skills, knowledge and resources they need to be safe, in equal measures with peers” (Royal Commission, 2017). |
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VALiD
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
SNAICC
eSafety Commissioner
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/tailored-advice/help-in-languages-other-than-english
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/young-people/being-out-trans-gender-diverse-online
Uniting Church in Australia
eSafety Commissioner
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/kids
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/young-people/cyberbullying
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/research/parenting-digital-age
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/counselling-support-services
Commissioner for Children and Young People WA
Lutheran Church of Australia
SNAICC
Advocate for Children and Young People NSW
National Disability Scheme
- https://www.nds.org.au/resources/child-safe-standards
- https://www.nds.org.au/images/resources/Promoting_The_Safety_of_Children_With_Disability.pdf
Uniting Church in Australia
- https://ucavictas.org.au/keepingchildrensafe/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CSS3-Safety-of-children-with-disabilities-CYYP-June-2017.pdf
- https://ucavictas.org.au/keepingchildrensafe/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CSS4-Safety-of-CALD-children-CCYP-June-2017.pd
- https://victas.uca.org.au/ministry-mission/disability-inclusion/
eSafety Commissioner
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/what-we-do/protecting-voices-risk-online
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/tailored-advice/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/blog/keeping-our-kids-safe-hidden-dangers-online
Commissioner for Children and Young People WA
- https://www.ccyp.wa.gov.au/our-work/resources/
- https://ccyp.vic.gov.au/upholding-childrens-rights/aboriginal-communities/#TOC-2
- https://ccyp.vic.gov.au/assets/resources/tipsheet-safety-children-disability.pdf
- https://ccyp.vic.gov.au/assets/resources/tipsheet-safety-children-cult-ling-diverse.pdf
Commission for Children and Young People Victoria
NCCA framework
Child Wise resources developed for the NCCA Safe Church Program Framework
- NCCA Promoting Equity - PDF
Other Resources
Education and Training Victoria
Catholic Professional Standards Limited
eSafety Commissioner
| Australian Catholic University - Institute of Child Protection Studies | ||
| Equity is upheld and diverse needs respected in policy and practice. | ||
| Principles and Indicators | ICPS Resource | |
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4.1 The church, including staff and volunteers, understands children’s and young people’s diverse circumstances, and provides support and responds to those who are vulnerable. |
A resource to support Aboriginal children, based on the Kids Central Toolkit:
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4.2 Children and young people have access to information, support and complaints processes in ways that are culturally safe, accessible and easy to understand |
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4.3 The church pays particular attention to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, children and young people with disability, children and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, children and young people of diverse sexuality and gender and those who cannot live at home. |
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Child Safety Standard: Three
SAFE CHURCH PROGRAM NATIONAL CHILD SAFETY FRAMEWORK
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“A child safe institution observes Article 18 of the UNCRC, which states that parents, carers or significant others with caring responsibilities have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of their child. Families and caregivers are engaged with the child safe institution’s practices and are involved in decisions affecting their children. Families and caregivers are recognised as playing an important role in monitoring children’s wellbeing and helping children to disclose any complaints.” (Royal Commission, 2017). |
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Perth Catholic Archdiocese
Human Rights Commission
Uniting Church in Australia
The Salvation Army Australia
- https://www.salvationarmy.org.au/about-us/governance-policy/safeguarding-children-and-young-people/information-for-children-young-people-parents-and-carers/
- https://www.salvationarmy.org.au/about-us/governance-policy/safeguarding-children-and-young-people/our-framework/#tabs-0
eSafety Commissioner
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/online-safety-guide
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/big-issues
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/skills-advice
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-02/educate_4_-_tips_for_parent-carer_education_and_engagement.pdf
- https://www.esafety.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-09/English%20-%20Parents%20guide.pdf
Below are 30-second versions of the videos in plain English.
- Helping your family stay safe online: https://vimeo.com/739891731/8239a81edd
- Getting started with social media: https://vimeo.com/739892566/5e8d81b134
- Getting help when your child is being bullied online: https://vimeo.com/739892922/4ba65e42b
- Safer online gaming: https://vimeo.com/739893012/75ed364baf
Download social media resources:
- Are you children spending a lot of time online? (194 KB)
- Talk about the risks of social media (173 KB)
- Is gaming causing stress in your family? (167 KB)
- Getting help when your child is being bullied online (232 KB)
Commissioner for Children and Young People WA
Uniting Church in Australia
Uniting Church in Australia
The Salvation Army Australia
Other Resources
Catholic Professional Standards Limited
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