Britain Yearly Meeting Reviews Safeguarding Procedures After Whistle-Blower Report

Britain Yearly Meeting, the national body of Quakers in Britain, has set out a review of its safeguarding procedures in a blog post by its national safeguarding work. The writer describes how, a few years ago, she and her partner cared for foster children who attended the children’s group at their local Quaker meeting. She said the children joined the adult meeting on Sundays, played games and made friends, and that the experience led her to see the importance of safeguarding in Quaker communities. She said the young people had their own painful experiences of not being safe, and that it mattered to her that the meeting was a safe place for them and for everyone else.

The writer said safeguarding means protecting everyone’s health, well-being and human rights, and keeping people safe from harm, including physical, emotional, financial, spiritual and sexual harm. She said her own meeting’s safeguarding procedures had allowed her family to be fully included in the community, and that the procedures now need to be reviewed. She noted that wider society has learned more about safeguarding, often because of work by survivors of abuse, and that vulnerable adults as well as children and young people need to be kept safe.

According to the post, an internal whistle-blower prompted an external review at Britain Yearly Meeting, and the organisation now has an improvement plan. It said it is receiving advice from its partner agency, thirty-one:eight, is updating its policies, and that all Britain Yearly Meeting trustees and staff have now received safeguarding awareness training. The post also said the organisation contributed to the investigation by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) into child protection in religious organisations and settings, and that it was awaiting that report, which was due to be published in summer 2021.

The post reported that last year safeguarding experts reviewed historic safeguarding folders, examining 162 of them. The reviewers told the organisation there were no high-risk cases and advised it to close most of the folders. Twenty-five medium-risk cases remain open and are being actively managed. In the same section, the writer cited this work as a reason for continued vigilance, pointing to the care of the most vulnerable (Psalm 82:3).

The post states that Area Meeting trustees hold the legal responsibility for safeguarding in local meetings. Because safeguarding processes can feel daunting and complicated, the organisation recently published new model documents for Area Meetings, and Area Meeting trustees are being encouraged to adopt more robust practices. Information on this is being sent directly to Area Meeting trustees. The writer said she was impressed by the commitment shown by safeguarding co-ordinators when she spoke with them last year. She linked this to the Quaker testimony as a peace church, quoting the organisation’s principle “to seek peace, and ensue it, and to follow after righteousness and the knowledge of God.”

The post says help is available to anyone with concerns about abuse, whether for themselves or others, and that information on safeguarding, including how to find specialist advice, is published by the organisation. It gives the contact address for the national safeguarding officer as safe@quaker.org.uk.

Source: Read the original report