How Do I Develop A Safeguarding / Safety Team At My Church?
Safeguarding Teams or Safety Teams exist to facilitate the essential prevention and response actions within a church or organization. Developing and investing time and resources into a standing team is an effective way to advance the overall safety of the church or ministry by clarifying policy and responsible actions in prevention and response for all in the community. Below is a simple guide for getting a Safeguarding Team or Safety Team started in your church, ministry, or organization.
Getting Started
How Many Members Should a Safeguarding / Safety Team Have?
The size of your team will vary based on the size of your community and the exact role you are expecting the team to fulfill.
Most communities will begin with a team in the range of 4-8 people.
Who should be on a Safeguarding / Safety Team?
Individuals representative of the community as a whole and that include a mix of staff and lay persons.
For all churches it is important to have at least 50% women on this team as more victims of abuse statistically are female.
Individuals with professional experience, such as trauma therapists, social workers, emergency services, or law enforcement personnel.
These individuals can contribute valuable insights or skills relevant to the team's objectives.
Individuals willing to work together, who demonstrate a character of humility, and who are committed to God’s priority of protecting vulnerable people.
Basic Expectations
How long will each person serve, how often does the team meet, how do we make the team sustainable?
Every Safeguarding / Safety Team is unique. Consider your context (church governance practices, size of team, commitment level of team members, etc.) when setting up team expectations.
Establish expectations for oncoming team members such as length of service, how often the team may meet, and possible duties. Communicate this as forthrightly as you can and refine how you do this as you learn. Some churches may choose to start with a more limited role for the Safeguarding Team and grow it over time. Try to list the main duties of the Safeguarding Team to give potential members a sense of the church’s priorities for the team.
Consider setting up a rotation of team members so that you allow new members to rotate on and old members to rotate off in a staggered way that maintains continuity. Having a rotation also helps avoid burnout.
Try an approach that you think will fit with your community and see what you learn. There is no way to establish such a team without learning by experience what works well in your specific context.
Sample Duties of Safeguarding Team
Implement and oversee compliance with the ___________ Church Abuse Policy.
Maintain rigorous familiarity with the ___________ Church Abuse Policy.
Brief all staff, volunteers, and members on the application of the policy on a regular basis.
Receive, Document, and Respond to any policy violations or concerning behavior (see Church Abuse Policy for details).
Lead in responding to any allegations of abuse (see Church Abuse Policy for details).
Cooperate with staff on the screening of pastors, officers, staff, and volunteers.
Complete continuing education from a qualified organization on a regular basis and help leaders maintain an education plan for the whole church (to be updated annually).
Key Responsibilities
What are the key responsibilities of a Safeguarding / Safety Team for abuse prevention?
A Safeguarding / Safety Team helps their faith community understand that everyone plays a part in making it a safe and respectful place.
Help the wider faith community understand God’s heart for the protection of the vulnerable.
Provide education and clear expectations for healthy interactions and policy compliance.
Develop a plan for bringing more training and education to the whole community so that all adults are empowered to contribute responsibly to prevention and response.
What are the key responsibilities of a Safeguarding / Safety Team for abuse response?
A Safeguarding / Safety Team is responsible for receiving, documenting, and responding in appropriate ways to any safety concerns or policy violations.
In our view, it is critical that this weighty responsibility is not placed on one individual, such as a supervisor. It is important that we give all in the church concrete direction on what to do if there is a safety concern or policy violation.
A Safeguarding Team can document any concerns or policy violations and take a team approach to any appropriate accountability. Documentation is crucial because, for example, grooming behavior is often difficult to recognize in isolation, but it is easier to recognize when it is part of a pattern of documented behavior. So as both a matter of practicality and effective response, it is important for any information regarding policy violations or concerning behavior to be housed in one place.
A Safeguarding Team can work with leaders to help with key actions after potential abuse. Having a clear policy to set expectations for this is critical, and taking a team approach to assess what is responsible is important.