God has commanded us to love one another. Ensuring a person’s safety is an expression of that love. Therefore, Wyong Anglican Church is committed to the physical, emotional and spiritual welfare and safety of all people, particularly within its own community.
To ensure the safety of children and vulnerable people in our community, Wyong Anglican Church, in conjunction with the Anglican Church of Australia, is committed to upholding the Anglican Church of Australia Code of Conduct Faithfulness in Service and the Diocese of Newcastle Code of Conduct Being Together.
Wyong Anglican Church is committed to…
- Carefully recruiting and training its clergy and church workers,
- Adopting and encouraging safe ministry practices by its clergy and church workers,
- Responding promptly and appropriately to each concern raised about the behaviour of its clergy and church workers,
- Offering pastoral support to any person who has suffered abuse, and
- Providing supervision of and pastoral accountability (within the context of the ministries, locations and activities of the parish) to any person (who is a member of a congregation and) who is known to have abused a child or another vulnerable person.
Further information can be found here https://www.newcastleanglican.org.au/safeministry/parish-safety-policy/
Safe Ministry Representative
Each parish requires a Safe Ministry Representative, appointed by the Senior Minister with the concurrence of the parish council. The duties of the Safe Ministry Representative include:
- Assisting the Senior Minister in complying with child protection screening.
- Keeping safe ministry training records.
- Monitoring and reporting on Safe Ministry systems and practice in the parish.
- Reporting abuse by clergy or church workers.
- Our Safe Ministry Representative is Mrs Jenny Hurst.
Safe Ministry and the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle
The Anglican Diocese of Newcastle Professional Standards Unit, receives and deals with complaints of child abuse or sexual misconduct by members of the clergy and church workers.
The Anglican Diocese of Newcastle takes allegations of misconduct and abuse seriously. We encourage anyone in immediate danger to contact 000. Everyone who has been subjected to crime should contact NSW Police on 1800 333 000. Lifeline provides a 24 hour – 7 day per week phone counselling service on 13 11 14.
Our Director of Professional Standards can be contacted on 1800 774 945.