Safeguarding
As a church we take Safeguarding seriously and want to provide a safe environment in which people can thrive. We want to do all we can to ensure the well-being of those who come into contact with us, especially children, young people and adults with support needs, taking a responsibility to safeguard them from any form of abuse. We will properly record and report any abuse that we discover or suspect.
All our staff and volunteers are trained and committed to working together to build an environment and culture that is safe. Appropriate checks with the Disclosure and Barring Service are made wherever appropriate, particularly within our Children and Youth teams.
If you scroll down, you can have a look at our safeguarding statement. If you want to see our entire safe guarding policy, please contact us at office@wsvc.org.uk.
Safeguarding Statement
The Trustees recognise the importance of its ministry with children, young people
and adults in need of protection and its responsibility to protect everyone entrusted to our care.
The following statement was agreed by the Trustees on the date shown at the end of the statement.
This church is committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults and ensuring their well-being.
Specifically:
· We recognise that we all have a responsibility to help prevent the physical, sexual, emotional
abuse and neglect of children and young people (those under 18 years of age) and to report
any such abuse that we discover or suspect.
· We believe every child should be valued, safe and happy. We want to make sure that
children we have contact with know this and are empowered to tell us if they are suffering
harm.
· All children and young people have the right to be treated with respect, to be listened to and
to be protected from all forms of abuse.
· We recognise that we all have a responsibility to help prevent the physical, sexual,
psychological, financial and discriminatory abuse and neglect of vulnerable adults and to
report any such abuse that we discover or suspect.
· We recognise the personal dignity and rights of vulnerable adults and will ensure all our
policies and procedures reflect this.
· We believe all adults should enjoy and have access to every aspect of the life of the place of
worship/organisation unless they pose a risk to the safety of those we serve.
· We undertake to exercise proper care in the appointment and selection of all those who will
work with children and vulnerable adults.
· We recognise that we currently use an open site for our Sunday celebrations
and will ensure that our policies and procedures take this into account to ensure
the safety of all children, young people and vulnerable adults.
We are committed to:
· Following the requirements for UK legislation in relation to safeguarding children and
vulnerable adults and good practice recommendations.
· Respecting the rights of children as described in the UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child.
· Implementing the requirements of legislation in regard to people with disabilities.
· Ensuring that workers adhere to the agreed procedures of our safeguarding policy.
· Keeping up to date with national and local developments relating to safeguarding.
· Following any denominational or organisational guidelines in relation to safeguarding
children and adults in need of protection.
· Supporting the safeguarding co-ordinator/s in their work and in any action they may need to
take in order to protect children/vulnerable adults.
· Ensuring that everyone agrees to abide by these recommendations and the guidelines
established by this church.
· Supporting parents and families.
· Nurturing, protecting and safeguarding of children and young people.
· Supporting, resourcing, training, monitoring and providing supervision to all those who
undertake this work.
· Supporting all in the church who have been affected by abuse.
· Adopting and following the ‘Safe and Secure’ safeguarding standards developed by the
ThirtyOne:Eight.
· Maintain absolute confidentiality within the church except where legislation requires
the disclosure of information i.e. suspected child abuse to the relevant authorities e.g. social services or police
· Quickly and fairly respond to any query or concern about the safety of children or vulnerable adults.
We recognise:
· Children’s Social Services (or equivalent) has lead responsibility for investigating all
allegations or suspicions of abuse where there are concerns about a child. Adult Social Care
(or equivalent) has lead responsibility for investigating all allegations or suspicions of abuse
where there are concerns about a vulnerable adult.
· Where an allegation suggests that a criminal offence may have been committed then the
police should be contacted as a matter of urgency.
· Where working outside of the UK, concerns will be reported to the appropriate agencies in
the country in which we operate, and their procedures followed, and in addition we will
report concerns to our agency’s headquarters.
· Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.
We will review this statement and our policy and procedures annually, and update when changes to policy are required.
If you have any concerns for a child or vulnerable adult then speak to one of the following who have
been approved as safeguarding co-ordinators for this Church.
Martina Steel
Lead Safeguarding Coordinator
A copy of the full policy and procedures is available from the Church office at the Vineyard Centre.