Statement of policy

The West Midlands Synod takes safeguarding children, young people and adults at risk seriously
We are committed to carry out the practice and principles outlined in the URC Safeguarding policy Good Practice 5 (GP5):
https://urc.org.uk/images/safeguarding/SafeguardingDocuments/GP5-Safeguarding-Pack-2020-web.pdf
 
Appendices:
https://urc.org.uk/good-practice-policy-and-procedures.html
 
In accordance with GP5, the West Midlands Synod -
 

• will encourage good practice in safeguarding in local churches within the Synod. We will seek to establish a caring environment in which there is an informed vigilance about the dangers of abuse.
• will appoint a Safeguarding Officer and encourage and support local churches in appointing Church Safeguarding Co-ordinators, whilst recognising that safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. We will organise activities in such a way as to promote a safe environment and minimise the risk of harm to children and adults.
• will follow a safer recruitment process for the selection and appointment of people to work with children or adults in need of protection, whether voluntary or paid, lay or ordained.
• is committed to providing support and supervision, resources and training, to those who work with children and adults.
• will use rigorous and careful supervision to protect people from the risks associated with known offenders within the Synod.
• will respond appropriately to all concerns and allegations of abuse, including referring to the Police and Social Care if necessary, either the Adult or Children’s teams.
• will co-operate with the Police, Children’s and Adult’s Services in any investigation, will follow multi agency decisions and will maintain confidentiality of any investigations to those directly involved.

 
All concerns or allegations concerning West Midlands Synod activities, staff or volunteers should be addressed to the West Midlands Synod Safeguarding Officer:
Name: Donna Gordon
Contact phone number: 07458 304275
Email address: safeguarding@urcwestmidlands.org.uk

Safeguarding during the covid-19 pandemic

Church life for all of us is going to change significantly over the coming period with the emergence of the global pandemic - covid19. It is till however very important that we still work together to meet the needs of vulnerable people in our communities. The following safeguarding advice based is on national guidance, to go alongside our existing safeguarding policy and principles.
Please help us to ensure good safeguarding practice continues to be observed.
Key points:

• Keep up to date with the latest information from the government regarding COVID-19.
•  Our current safeguarding policies and practice guidance remain in effect

Safeguarding Concerns

• If you have safeguarding concerns about a child or adult, contact your local safeguarding officer within 24 hours. If a child or adult is in immediate danger or requires medical attention, call the police and/or social services immediately. Email safeguarding@urcwestmidlands.org.uk  or call 0121 783 1177 ext: 1009
• Remember children are at home full time and may be experiencing unseen neglect and/or abuse. Do keep this in mind if you have any form of contact with others
• Remember vulnerable adults may become even more vulnerable during these times of social distancing and isolation. Please be mindful of the elderly and people who have physical or mental illness or disabilities and do what you can to help
• There is evidence that domestic abuse may increase during the Covid 19 lockdown and social distancing rules. Please bear in mind and be diligent in in this area of safeguarding others

Helping others

• We would encourage everyone who can help others to let their family, friends and neighbours know if they are available and what they can do to help, whilst following government advice.
• Remember to consider government guidance regarding social distancing and shielding for those who are at increased risk from severe illness. Anyone who has been particularly advised by the government to stay at home should be do so.
• The government has produced some helpful guidance about helping safely. It is particularly important to remember that we have a duty to safeguard ourselves as well as others. If you’d like to have a read of the Government guidance about helping safely please use this link https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-how-to-help-safely--2/coronavirus-how-to-help-safely
• Of course, ordinarily using someone’s money to pay for shopping, if you are doing it as part of a pastoral rota on behalf of the church, means that you need to have a DBS check Barring List Adults. Many stores are only taking cards now, so using cash won’t be an issue. It will be useful to consider bank transfer if everyone you are supporting does telephone banking of course. If they don’t, they may have a family member to assist. Probably all things you’ve already thought of.

Keeping in touch

• By post

The DDC website advises that there is no known risk at this time, based upon previous corona-type viruses, of infection/transmission of the virus through the postal system. Obviously, this is not an absolute, but it may be possible, in keeping with current guidance, to send people cards as a way of reaching out and supporting them through this pandemic. An accompanying text/prior phone call to remind people to wash their hands after handling post might be a useful precaution.

• through online video platforms

We are of course now communicating much more with people by various video platforms. The URC website has new guides about Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp that have been written for those who have never used them before but are thinking about doing so to stay in touch with their church or community. Also available is guidance about the recording of podcasts, using Facebook Live, YouTube and Zoom. Please see https://urc.org.uk/information-guides. It’s useful to remember that the usual safeguards apply to communicating digitally.
Additionally, it will be good to protect your devices from the latest threats. For information on how to update your devices, please visit: 
https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/securing-your-devices
 
DBS checks
The good news about DBS checks if you need them is that the DBS have relaxed their procedures about verifying. You no longer need to see the documents physically and can either see them by video link or be sent scanned copies. Do remember to delete them of course!
If you want more information about the DBS approach please use this link https://www.gov.uk/government/news/covid-19-changes-to-dbs-id-checking-guidelines
Our overarching body Due Diligence checking (DDC) remains open. Please see this link for their information https://www.ddc.uk.net/company/ddc-response-to-covid-19-outbreak/
 
Domestic Abuse
Reports from China revealed that incidents of domestic abuse tripled in February 2020, compared to the previous year. Of course, COVID-19 cannot cause domestic abuse, just as alcohol, drugs, unemployment etc. do not cause it. Existing research highlights that natural disasters and diseases are factors in increased reports of domestic abuse.
Here are a few things that might be useful for people to consider:

• Understand that stress and anxiety does not cause domestic abuse, but it may increase it in families where it is already being perpetrated. Acknowledge that this is an extremely unsafe time.
• Check in with someone who you are personally worried about. If making a phone call to a suspected domestic abuse victim or survivor, always assume that the perpetrator could be listening in. The same goes for instant messaging services.
• If you suspect that the victim or survivor isn’t able to talk because of being overheard, give them a readily thought out line to end the call, e.g. if it is not safe to speak right now then please repeat after me “I’m sorry there is no one called Tina here, you must have got the wrong number.”
• If it is safe to talk when you call, arrange a codeword or phrase that the victim can use if interrupted, e.g. if you need to end the call at any point please say “no, sorry I’m not interested in taking part in the survey

 
We pray you all stay safe and well and look forward to the time when we can support each other safely face to face.

​Donna Gordon, Synod Safeguarding Officer

GOOD PRACTICE GUIDELINES
from the URC website

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Slides from March 2022 Synod meeting

Donna Gordon presented a lot of information about changes to safeguarding policy and procedures at the March 2022 Synod Meeting.  The slides used are available here in PDF format.  Please contact Donna directly with any questions or safeguarding concerns