York Area Meeting Safeguarding Team Reports on Policy, Training and Safer Recruitment

The York Area Meeting safeguarding team began work on a local safeguarding policy during lockdown, and the author writes that three years have passed since then. This article is a personal account of the team’s work and what it has learned. The author says the team adapted and implemented the new Quaker policy, and that the work reminded them of why they became a Quaker: the Society of Friends has long sought to represent the vulnerable and those with no voice. The author describes safeguarding, which seeks to protect everyone, as the way they bring that Quaker witness into the world.

The author said the team did not want a document that was sketchy or incomplete, because weak policies with vague generalisations can make people believe effective safeguards are in place when they are not. The York Area Meeting policy opens with a summary, but the full text is meant to serve as a handbook covering a wide range of situations.

Since 2021, the area meeting’s safeguarding team has offered an induction course for everyone who holds a role in a local meeting. The course is a PowerPoint presentation that can be delivered in person, over Zoom or Google Meet, or downloaded and watched at home. Local Meeting Safeguarding leads can also use it. The author reports that every local meeting has now completed induction training for all postholders. The team expects to hold sessions every year as personnel change, and says that online delivery has been a real help.

The policy sets specific instructions for those involved in regulated activities, such as the area’s children’s groups. Since January 2022, the area meeting has trained 17 postholders by enrolling them on safeguarding training with 31:8, which the article describes as a specialist trainer for faith groups. The author also notes that several members have training to a higher level through their work in the NHS or education. The author says the area meeting has benefited from this growing expertise. Attendance at children’s groups has grown within four of the area’s five local meetings, which are organised by accredited volunteers, and the author calls this a source of hope for the future.

The policy also shapes how people are nominated to roles. The area meeting stated from the outset that it would use safer recruitment only for those involved in regulated activities. Because York Area Meeting had already required references for volunteers in children’s groups, the change was small in that respect. A new step is confirming appointments after six months at a business meeting, which the author believes is the right course because it allows a volunteer’s suitability to be reviewed. The author says they have become aware of how difficult it can be for people to raise concerns, so placing a volunteer’s name on the agenda gives anyone with worries the chance to speak, either publicly or privately. Here the team’s practice reflects the call to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves (Proverbs 31:8-9).

The author says the team listens to suggestions for practical improvements. It has produced a guide setting out who must be trained and to what level, along with a short guide to nominations. Each January, safeguarding records are gathered for central secure storage, and the team is working to make that process as simple as possible.

The author notes that parents, carers and members of other voluntary organisations expect safeguards to be in place so they can have confidence in a body. The recent introduction of national safeguarding guidelines for the author’s cycle club prompted the same reflection. The author observes that many cases of abuse are not first reported to the police or social services, but to a trusted friend in an informal setting. The author also notes that not all abuse is sexual in nature.

Source: Read the original report