Safeguarding God's Children

Yesterday I went to a workshop on the prevention of sexual abuse of children. In attendance were about a hundred clergy. To emphasize his urgency about this training, Bishop Greg was there. The presenter was Sally, a lawyer from the national church office.

We saw two videos that alternated between the stories of children who were victims of sexual abuse and perpetrators of sexual abuse. The videos are disturbing because they force you to confront unpleasant issues. Sexual abuse happens, and it happens in churches. That's painful to contemplate.

Clearly, our first task is to create a safe environment where the children of God are protected and nurtured, learning to trust God. The workshop gave us five areas for us to address:

• Screening - Use applications and references to screen those who work with children
• Interacting - Have written standards about good ways to show affection
• Training - Communicate the policies and standards of the parish to everyone. Make people aware how abuse happens and what to do when you suspect abuse
• Monitoring - Always be aware of where the children are
• Responding - Speak up when you suspect something and notify child protective services, the police, and the diocese when necessary

These tasks aren't easy, especially in a small congregation where there's a high level of interaction between adults and children. But the safety of the children has to be top priority.
-