Diocese of Chichester Safeguarding

Introduction

These pages provide you with straightforward 'How To' information about various aspects of safeguarding practice in parish settings. If you are looking for advice on how to respond to a safeguarding concern (for instance about a child or adult, or the behaviour of someone in your church), please look at the What Do I Do If? section of this website. The How To Guides section covers other day-to-day safeguarding topics such as running activities safely and recruiting people safely.

Here, we have tried to distil the basic advice that parishes most often ask us about. We have tried to keep this section as succinct as possible...straightforward answers to the most 'Frequently Asked Questions' that Parish Safeguarding Officers and clergy need to know. Hopefully this section, as it grows, will become a 'One Stop Shop' which will help parishes practice safely, but it does not replace the more substantial, statutory guidance which can be found on the Church of England's safeguarding website.

Much of what you will find on this How To Guides section of our own website is a distilled and summarised version of the more in-depth material on the CofE's website. What we suggest is that you start here, but that parish clergy and parish safeguarding officers in particular also get in the habit of familiarising themselves with the CofE's guidance on which the How To Guides section is based.