Churches of Christ in NSW & ACT (CCNSWACT) is committed to modelling the love of Christ by promoting physical, emotional and spiritual safety in all that we do. We recognise that the growing number of recommendations and legal requirements may leave you feeling apprehensive or overwhelmed. We are confident, however, that the Safe Church Health Check (SCHC) will support you as you navigate these challenges.
Our heart is to equip and support local churches for ministry, so we have sought to provide suggested structures and resources to reduce the burden on you as much as possible. However, your local church leadership will need to take some steps to implement these Safe Church practices as appropriate to your local church context. We encourage each local church to delegate this important task to appropriate individuals. The church pastor is not necessarily required to undertake these tasks themselves.
In 2013, the Australian Government called a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (Royal Commission) in response to community concern about widespread reports of cases where Australian institutions failed to protect children from child sexual abuse. The work of this Royal Commission has emphasised that members of the public, children, young people, parents, carers, families and communities should be confident that organisations working with children provide safe environments. The Royal Commission was conducted over four years, making 409 recommendations for the federal government, state jurisdictions as well as numerous sectors, including religious entities.
A key outcome of the Royal Commission was the development of the Child Safe Standards. The Child Safe Standards collectively show that a child-safe organisation is one that creates a safe culture, adopts strategies and takes action to promote child well-being and prevent harm to children and young people. In February 2022, the NSW government legislated compliance with the Child Safe Standards for organisations that provide services to children, including churches. The ACT government is expected to follow suit in the near future.
The Safe Church Health Check has been designed to assist churches in meeting the Child Safe Standards and other legal obligations. In addition to legislative requirements to implement the Child Safe Standards, churches have existing legal obligations when it comes to providing activities and services to children and young people, including:
- Common law and statutory duties to take reasonable precautions to prevent child abuse;
- Requirements to ensure that people doing certain defined work hold relevant clearance checks;
- Reporting to government authorities in accordance with their obligations, if any, under:
- Mandatory Reporting Legislation
- Reportable Conduct Legislation
- Criminal Legislation
- WWCC Legislation in NSW
- WWVP Legislation in ACT
Of course, mere legal compliance is not our aim. Rather, we hope to promote a culture that reflects the love of Christ, loves and protects individuals, and fosters missional engagement with local communities.
SCHC Application
You can download the SCHC Application form here and type answers in the pdf, or you can submit your SCHC responses online here.
If you have any questions, please reach out to us via hello@ccnswact.org.au or call (02) 8573 6000.