Safe Churches
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse recommended that the Anglican Church of Australia (as well as many other denominations and groups) need to have a consistent approach to safe ministry across all 23 Dioceses. The Anglican Church of Australia took this recommendation very seriously and a Safe Ministry Commission was established. The work of the Commission is to provide resources for the Anglican Church of Australia so that each Diocese can provide ‘a safe, helpful, healthy, pastoral and spiritual working environment for all attending, participating, supervising and leading’ (Diocese of Bunbury, 2017) within the individual Parishes or Communities.
The expectations of behaviour in the Anglican Church Community is outlined simply in the following poster.
There are many tools for effective ministry produced by the Commission. Some are more useful to Bishops while others are for clergy and church workers. Some are very specific in their use and others have a broad application across the Church. These resources are used in conjunction with the documents for professional standards of each Diocese. The processes for handling complaints and working with survivors and responders may vary between Dioceses. The professional standards processes for the Diocese of Bunbury is available at https://www.bunburyanglican.org/safe-church.html
All Clergy, paid staff, church wardens, and volunteers in a leadership position must complete the Safe Ministry Training. They must have a National Police Clearance and be considered a Authorised church worker. Volunteer workers at Op Shops, Sunday Schools or the like must have a Police Clearance and have completed a Safe Ministry Volunteer Form. Each Parish has a Safe Church Contact Person that oversees the currency of all Church workers in the Parish.