Child Safety Standards July 2024 update

How is your congregation going with implementing its Child Safety Standards Action Plan?

We love hearing from congregations working on implementing their Child Safety Standards Action plans. Recently, we have been helping people to access videos to share with their congregations and to personalise resources with photographs and other details. We have also been assisting congregations who are reviewing their plans and finding that they could be doing more now that their understanding has improved.

By regularly reviewing the implementation of your congregation’s Child Safety Standards Action Plan, councils will be aware of which safety areas their congregations are performing well in and where improvement is needed.

Keeping your Child Safety Standards Action Plan in focus (for example, as an agenda item for your church council or in the report for your annual general meeting) will help your congregation to be a safe and welcoming place for children, even if they only occasionally attend.

It is important to regularly check that all volunteers and staff leading programs and activities have been appointed to their roles following the LCA Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults Procedure (see www.lca.org.au/policies). It is also important to ensure that your Safety Management Online records are up to date and accurately reflect the screening and training of your people.

If your church council hasn’t seen a report from our Safety Management Online database recently, your Safe Church Coordinator should be able to assist you with this. If you don’t currently have a Safe Church Coordinator or need extra assistance, the Professional Standards team can help you.

Your Safe Church Coordinator can also inform the council if all your congregation’s programs and activities are being well-planned, risk-managed and approved before commencing. This includes worship services. It is a good idea to offer your Safe Church Coordinator some support in their role, including an opportunity to debrief if needed.

Looking forward to 2025

Details about the 2025 Child Safety Standard Action Plan submission will be released soon.

A spotlight on Standard 5: Our people are safe, informed and supported

Our congregation ensures that our employees and volunteers with designated roles that involve interaction with children as well as our pastor(s) and leadership team are suitable, safe, well-informed and supported.

Have you checked the Child Safety Standards resource web page lately?

This page contains resources designed to assist your congregation with promoting and implementing each Child Safety Standard.

Do you need assistance? Support is available. Feel free to contact Nicole Hall (Child Safety Standards Implementation Support Officer) on 08 8267 7300 or someone from the Professional Standards team.

Nicole Hall is the LCA’s Child Safety Standards Implementation Support Officer.