Child Safety - Duty of Care

At Newstart Church we strive to include children in all aspects of the church community life. Church life should reflect a healthy model of home life – a complete community actively developing compassionate citizens capable of creating, leading and contributing. Therefore, the wisdom of all the community’s adults is available to the children as the wisdom of ‘aunties’ and ‘uncles’, who watch over and listen to the voices of the children. In that, we strive to be interconnected, and look out for and after each other, as a large family – a place where everybody belongs.

Jesus Christ set children as the prime examples of what it means to belong to the Kingdom of God. This means that children have the right to be safe, protected, respected and listened to, and to have their particular needs addressed in all church activities, whether mixed-age or child specific.

In the above passage (and others), Jesus makes explicit observation that there is an inherent imbalance of power; children are incapable of giving valid consent to abuse. Any form of child abuse is always wrong. If you know, or reasonably suspect, that a child is at risk of harm from child abuse, you should report this to the appropriate authorities and to the church leaders.  

Newstart Church is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all people, but especially children and young people.

Newstart Church is committed to providing a child safe environment where children and young people are safe, and feel safe, and their voices are heard about decisions that affect their lives. Particular attention will be paid to the safety of children with a disability, and children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Every person involved in the Newstart Church community has a collective responsibility to understand the important and specific role we all play in ensuring that the wellbeing and safety of children and young people is at the forefront of all they do and every decision they make.  

As part of the Victorian Government’s commitment to implementing the recommendations of the Betrayal of Trust report, there is a new regulatory landscape surrounding child safety, underpinned by new Child Safe Standards that are to be phased in during 2016 and 2017. The Standards are compulsory and apply to all organisations that work with children and young people up to 18 years old.

The Standards call for documented child safe policies, codes of conduct and clear strategies for responding to suspected abuse. Church communities have new accountabilities for minimising the risk of child abuse in their organisation.

Victoria’s Child Safe Standards include special protections for some children. Children with a disability and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are all given particular focus. This will help ensure all our children, regardless of their background and needs, are protected in our learning environments.  

As a church, we recognise that Child Abuse is serious and includes sexual offences, grooming, physical violence, serious emotional or psychological harm, serious neglect and a child’s exposure to family violence.

The church will take reasonable steps to protect children and young people in the community from any harm and injury that may reasonably be foreseen under common law duty of care. During Church meeting times, the church will endeavour to provide a safe environment at the community centre; all food will be prepared with care, and leaders will seek to identify and minimize potential safety hazards putting necessary boundaries into place where needed. A first-aid kit is provided at the centre and all those working with children in the teaching time will have a ‘Working with Children’ Check.

General supervision and protection at church meetings is provided by parents as they are present with their children. The congregation as a responsible community will assist parents in their duties where agreed. Where there is a concern for safety or suspected child abuse, members of the congregation are encouraged to react as responsible members of the community and report allegations to the relevant bodies.