Safeguarding in the Faith Sector

Churches and faith-based groups play a vital role in the lives of many children, young people and adults. People who contribute to the life of faith-based communities and places of worship have a role to play in keeping people safe. They also play a vital role in responding effectively and compassionately when someone comes forward to share concerns or disclose abuse
So why do we need child safeguarding training?

Did you know that neglect is sadly a factor in 60 percent of all child deaths, that are investigated by a serious case review, but only 1 in 3 people, who are concerned a child is being neglected, go on to report it? We will explore what neglect looks like and how we can raise our concerns that a child is being neglected.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated that one in five adults aged 18 to 74 years experienced at least one form of child abuse, whether emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or witnessing domestic violence or abuse, before the age of 16 years. The equates to 8.5 million people.

‘Position of trust’ is a legal term that refers to certain roles and settings where an adult has regular and direct contact with children. We will explore what it means to abuse a position of trust and what should you do if you believe someone has abused their position of trust. This will include understanding the role of the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO/DO).

We will explore the national action plan to tackle child abuse linked to faith or belief. This action plan is intended to help raise awareness of the issue of child abuse linked to faith or belief and to encourage practical steps to be taken to prevent such abuse. It has been developed through partnership on the National Working Group between central government and local statutory partners, faith leaders, voluntary sector organisations and the Metropolitan Police.

In the UK, it is estimated that: around 137,000 women have undergone FGM. some 60,000 girls under 15 years old are at risk.

Although it is often thought that forced marriages occur within a certain country or religion they occur across all six continents. There are, however, unfortunately, ‘focus countries’ and within these countries the risk of forced marriage is increased. In 2020, other than the UK, the highest number of cases dealt with by the Forced Marriage Unit were in Pakistan (286 cases), Bangladesh (69 cases), India (44 cases), Afghanistan (30 cases) and Somalia (15 cases).

This course has been created and delivered by Milly Wildish, a child protection specialist who has worked in criminal and education settings. Milly is a national safeguarding panel member and is currently engaged in a large-scale independent investigation, into current and historical allegations of child abuse.

Your understanding of the course is tested though multiple-choice questions and you will receive a CPD-accredited certificate on the successful completion of the course.