Safe Child Policy ~ Guidelines For Safe Ministry With Children And Youth

Introduction    September 2004

The Church Council recently approved a Safe Child Policy that was developed by the Board of Christian Education over the last year. The CE Board put this policy together after reviewing recommendations from the United Church of Christ, similar policies adopted by other area churches, school policies and policies used by other youth organizations such as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. A copy of the Safe Child Policy can be found in the church office, on this church website and in the church library.

We hope this information will get you acquainted with the provisions of our new Safe Child Policy and help you understand and embrace the goals and duties this policy sets forth for those who volunteer or work with our church’s children and youth.

Why Do We Need a Safe Child Policy?

Child abuse can take many forms. It can be physical, emotional or sexual in nature. It occurs far more often than any of us expect. Although we would all like to believe "it can’t happen here", we see from the experience of the Roman Catholic Church that it can happen just about anywhere. When abuse occurs, the consequences are devastating to all involved, including the church. We know we must take steps to educate our congregation about abuse and to prevent abuse. The Safe Child Policy is our effort to make our church a safer sanctuary for our children, and to protect our church as a whole.

In 2003, the Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ adopted a resolution encouraging all churches to develop safe sanctuary policies. Although such a policy cannot completely prevent child abuse or exploitation, it can greatly reduce the risk for children, youth, staff, volunteers and the church as a whole.

What is a Safe Child Policy?

A Safe Child Policy is a plan to develop policies for recruiting, screening and hiring staff and volunteers who work with children and youth. It is also a set of policies or guidelines that staff and volunteers working with our children must implement in their activities with children and youth. Lastly, it is a plan for responding to a reported or suspected case of child abuse or sexual misconduct.

What is Included In Our Safe Child Policy?

The policy adopted by our Church Council has four separate sections.

(1) The first is a Statement of Policy. This section recites the policy’s purpose, discusses those affected by the policy and provides a general description of the behavior the policy is meant to address. It promises that church leaders, employees and volunteers working with youth will be educated on the policy’s provisions.

(2) The second section is Definitions. It explicitly defines the parties governed by this policy and the conduct prohibited by this policy. This section was adopted almost verbatim from recommendations made by the United Church of Christ.

(3) The third section, Basic Guidelines for Safe Ministry With Children and Youth, contains the practices the church will use in its youth ministry activities. The guidelines describe specific things those working with our children and youth should strive to do during youth ministry and children’s activities. These are the most important things to be familiar with if you plan to volunteer or work with our children and youth in church sponsored activities.

These guidelines are not intended to take every step imaginable to prevent child abuse or sexual exploitation. Nor is every available screening tool going to be used to qualify volunteers for participating in our youth ministry. The goal was to adopt reasonable steps that are practical to implement and will minimize the opportunity for prohibited conduct to occur. These are written to be guidelines, not strict rules. It is specifically stated there are situations where strict adherence will not always be possible or practical, but that it is church policy to follow them when it is reasonably possible to do so.

(4) The final section is Reporting and Complaint Response Procedures. This section contains the process devised to report and respond to any case of suspected abuse or inappropriate behavior by an individual working with youth ministry.

It is important to note Sunday school teachers, youth group leaders, chaperones and volunteers all have a duty to report any complaints they become aware of that allege emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual misconduct or other inappropriate behavior by a person working with our children and youth ministry or activities. Such reports are made to the senior minister or to a member of the church moderator team.

Reports of misconduct will first be referred to the senior minister for initial follow-up. The senior minister will outline three possible responses that may be elected by the complainant. The first is to pursue a direct resolution with the party accused of misconduct. The second is to pursue an informal resolution with the party accused of misconduct through dialogue facilitated by the senior minister. The third is to pursue a formal resolution through the church moderator team after submitting a written complaint and allowing an investigation to ensue. The Safe Child Policy outlines the steps to be taken in this formal process, from the submission of the written complaint, to the investigation and through the disposition of the complaint through the moderator team’s assessment and action.

Complaints involving the senior minister’s activities will be referred to the Northwest Association Office of the Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ for handling. Internally, First Congregational Church can decide whether it wishes to dismiss or maintain the employment of a senior minister so accused, or to suspend the senior minister until the Wisconsin Conference completes its investigation.

It is important to note that our policy does require the senior minister to report complaints involving certain kinds of abuse to either civil or law enforcement authorities, as required by state (or federal) law.

Conclusion

The adoption of the Safe Child Policy is meant to make clear the intent of our church to provide a safe and nurturing environment for our children and youth, as well as to create an environment of hospitality, respect and equality within the church as a whole.

We must all be aware of the impact of our words and actions on the well-being of our children and others. We must take care to appropriately minister to our youth, and make sure that everyone finds our church a safe sanctuary to experience God’s love and kinship to Christ.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to contact the Senior Minister, Joan Sulser.