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CC is committed to the highest standard of protection and safety for children and young people who attend a program, service or facility run by churches or ministries associated with our movement. Over 15,000 people have completed Safer Churches since we launched the ACC Safer Churches program.
2021 is a significant milestone, marking five years since the implementation of our Child Protection Policy and Safer Churches Strategy. As we look back, we can celebrate the tremendous steps we have taken to implement this policy through training our people, embracing child protection procedures and embeding Safer Churches culture across all ministry areas with all people. It is also time to look ahead. We have moved beyond the immediate, needed response to the Royal Commission, to embracing the National Principles for child safe organisations and seeking to continue to improve resources, training and procedures to regain trust that was lost within our communities and ensure that children and young people accessing our programs and ministries are safe, protected and flourishing.
preventing face to face church. Since last conference, over 4,000 ACC pastors and leaders have undertaken Safer Churches training and a total of 15,500 ACC people and Pastors have completed training in the past five years. Ongoing work and new initiaties • The development of simple infographics of our Child Protection Policy for children, youth and adults to ensure all our people understand the commitment we have to their safety • Further update to the Implementation kit • Continued review of the recommendations from the Royal Commission, and how effectively we are implementing them • ACC will continue to work with experts in the field and ACC Kids and Youth Alive to provide resources for parents, children and young people around safety and protection.
Safer Churches Team The State Safer Churches Officers meet regularly to review our progress and refine our Safer Churches strategy to increase its effectiveness across all ministry areas. We thank them for their dedication and commitment.
• We are committed to giving our children and young people a voice within our organisation and hear their perspective on safety and how best to facilitate their ability to report concerns and care for them should they be harmed.
We particularly want to acknowledge the work and commitment from Susan Hislop (WA) and Jonathon Bonyathon (SA) for their time as State Safer Churches Officers. Both Susan and Jonathon have moved on to new roles and we thank them for all they have done to serve our Movement in the State Safer Churches role. We welcomed Grahame Barlow (WA) and John Griffiths (SA) to our team this year.
As we look ahead, our ACC Safer Churches Guideline 2 states: “Our primary motive for establishing and maintaining Safer Churches environments for Children or Young People and all vulnerable people, is God’s love for us. ACC people are committed to providing Children and Young people with positive and nurturing experiences and, as such, shall minister out of the love God has for everyone. We commit to church ministry events and programs built on solid Safer Churches foundations.”
Training & Resources Since the implementation of our Child Protection Policy in December 2016, we have continued to review and update our training, resources and guidelines to reflect current legislation and implementation best practice. 2021 will see the fourth edition of our Safer Churches training.
ALLYSON PARKER ACC National Safer Churches
The Implementation Kit for churches can be found in the Pastor’s Login and Safer Churches. The Implementation Kit is regularly reviewed and updated to assist churches with implementation of the Child Protection Policy and guidelines, and is an invaluable resource for our churches. In 2020, for example, best practice guidelines and permission templates for online interaction with Children and Young People were developed within weeks of the COVID restrictions. A clear indicator of the embedding of Safer Churches culture in our churches, was the ongoing numbers of ACC Pastors and leaders completing for the first time, or updating their Safer Churches training throughout 2020, despite restrictions
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