The Safe Church Program continues to develop tools and resources for the Australian Church to assist local churches in providing a safe environment for all people, in particular children, young people and vulnerable adults.

We have recently uploaded a variety of tools, sample documents and guides to our website to assist churches in the development of policies and procedures. Some of these resources include an Electronic Communications Guide that provides information on areas that need to be considered when using Email, mobile phones and social media, including looking at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Kik. Other resources include a Sample Safe Church Policy, a Sample Code of Conduct and various reporting forms. All these resources that are provided are to help the local church in meeting their legal, insurance and community expectations in providing a safe environment for all people.

You can access these resources via: http://www.ncca.org.au/safe-church-resources

We are seeing more States and Territories introduce Child Safe Organisation standards over the past 6 months, in particular Victoria and most recently Western Australia. In Victoria, Mandatory Child Safe Standards come in to effect for Religious Organisations (including churches) on 1 January 2017. The Safe Church Program is working on various tools to assist churches in reviewing whether or not they comply with the mandatory standards, and if there are areas to work on, helping churches in those areas. The training that occurs through the Safe Church Training Agreement assists churches in meeting those standards, and we are in communication with the relevant Government department who is overseeing the implementation of these standards. In Western Australia, the Commissioner for Children and Young People has just released a range of resources in helping organisations become child safe. The Safe Church Program will be working on a range of tools, resources and samples to compliment what has been released, that will be more shaped to a local church environment.

The Safe Church Program team is available and willing to discuss and demonstrate how we can assist church bodies to ensure that they meet their moral, ethical and legal requirements in this ever changing protection and safeguarding landscape.

Please do not hesitate to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Safe Church Tip: Safe church signage

Along with the safe church commitment, it is good practice to visually display that you are committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable people. The signage should include who the safe church contact is for your community and be child friendly in its language so it is accessible to everyone.