Safeguarding
KEEPING CHILDREN AND ADULTS AT RISK SAFE.
Name of Place of worship:
New Life Church
CHADCA Centre
Newcastle upon Tyne NE5 1EG
Statement & Contacts
New Life Church Safeguarding Rep: Liz Allen
LizAllenMail
Deputy Contact: Frances Whatley
FrancesWhatleyMail
Other Contacts:
Churches’ Child Protection Advisory Service 01322 517817
NSPCC Help Line 0800 800 500
Northumbria Police Safeguarding concerns:
169 Ponteland Road Newcastle upon Tyne NE5 3AE 0191 271 9030
Westgate Road Walk In Centre Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 6BE 0191 282 3000.
The following statement was agreed by the church trustees on 9th August 2022
This place of worship is committed to the safeguarding of children and adults with care and support needs and ensuring their well-being.
We recognise that we all have a responsibility to help prevent the physical, sexual, psychological, financial and
discriminatory abuse and neglect of adults at risk of harm and abuse and to report any such abuse that we discover or suspect.
We recognise that the personal dignity and rights of adults and will ensure all our policies and procedures will reflect this.
We believe all adults should enjoy and have access to every aspect of the life of the place of worship.
We undertake to exercise proper care in the appointment and selection of those who will work with children and adults with care and support needs.
We believe every child should be valued, safe and happy. We want to make sure that children we have contact with know this and are
empowered to tell us if they are experiencing significant harm.
We are committed to:
• Following statutory denominational and specialist guidelines in relation to safeguarding children and adults.
• Ensuring that as a place of worship all workers will work within the agreed procedure of our safeguarding policy.
• Implementing the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Acts 1995 and 2005, Equality Act 2010 and all other relevant legislation.
• Supporting, resourcing and training those who undertake this work.
• Ensuring that we are keeping up to date with national and local developments relating to safeguarding.
• Ensuring that everyone agrees to abide by these recommendations and the guidelines established by this place of worship.
• Supporting all in the place of worship affected by abuse.
We recognise:
Children’s Social Services has lead responsibility for investigating all allegations or suspicions of abuse where there are concerns about a child. Adult Social Care has lead responsibility for investigating all allegations or suspicions of abuse where there are concerns about an adult with care and support needs.
Where an allegation suggests that a criminal offence may have been committed then the police should be contacted as a matter of urgency.
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.
Safeguarding is about promoting welfare for all our children and adults at risk. It can be limiting to think of safeguarding purely as a ‘procedure’ or ‘policy’ because while it is important that procedures and policies are in place to ensure everyone knows their responsibilities, the actual act of safeguarding is protecting a person’s human rights in whatever way works best for them.
This policy and the accompanying procedures draw on Safeguarding guidelines and policies
Our commitment to safeguarding:
We commit to each share responsibility for creating an environment that is safe for all.
We commit to pray for our safeguarding leader and those working with children and adults.
We commit to respect the boundaries that are in place to protect others.
We commit to support those in our church who have been hurt or abused.
We commit to provide on-going safeguarding training for all our workers.
We commit to allow sufficient time and resources to make our recruitment of workers safer.
We commit to maintaining an open culture where people are encouraged to share concerns.
We commit to not take offence when challenged about our presence or behaviour.
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