Elspeth Kernebone
11 July 2023
Churches are being encouraged to use an action plan developed by the Melbourne diocese to help them meet new statewide child safety standards.
The 11 Child Safe Standards came into force in Victoria in July 2022 replacing the seven previous standards.
Melbourne diocese safe ministry and inclusion officer Anne Fairweather said the diocese’s action plan aimed to take workload away from churches in complying with each standard.
Mrs Fairweather said many parishes were already meeting many of the standards, so the action plan was to make sure this was consistent across the diocese.
She said despite the standards coming into place in 2022, the Commission for Children and Young People had said they understood meeting the new commitments was a process of cultural change.
Mrs Fairweather said many churches would be building on actions they were already taking towards child safety – and had already been required to meet the previous seven standards – rather than doing something entirely new. She said the document’s plan was staged over three years, with both minimum actions and best practice options.
Read more: Women’s voices vital to address family violence in the church
Mrs Fairweather said churches were legally required to abide by safe ministry standards, but as churches they should be doing ministry safely anyway, following the example of Jesus in the gospels.
“We’re in a place where we need to be working on things, just like every other organisation, there’s no point that this is finished, it’s a constantly evolving area,” Mrs Fairweather said.
The Melbourne diocese’s action plan is available at: bit.ly/ChildSafetyActionPlan.
For more faith news, follow The Melbourne Anglican on Facebook, Twitter, or subscribe to our weekly emails.
