Safeguarding 

SEBA, its leaders and trustees, have oversight of member churches within their region. Although we do not have direct responsibility for safeguarding practice within the churches, we have a support and challenge role, seeking to train, equip and support those with oversight of safeguarding. Every church is expected to have their own Safeguarding Policy and Procedures reflecting the needs of their own congregation. We strongly recommend that this is based on the BUGB Model Safeguarding Policy and Procedures.

We are concerned with the welfare and wholeness of each individual, within God’s purpose for everyone. We seek to safeguard all members of the Association including all ages. It is the responsibility of each one of us to prevent neglect and the physical, sexual, emotional, financial or spiritual abuse of children, young people and adults at risk. In fulfilling this objective, we:

• Employ an Association Safeguarding Officer with suitable training and experience to support churches with safeguarding matters
• Have a named safeguarding trustee responsible, along with the Association Safeguarding Contact, for promoting safeguarding practice across the life of the Association
• Promote Excellence in Safeguarding within the churches of the Association
• Offer support and advice to churches with safeguarding concerns or incidents
• Provide Excellence in Safeguarding training (Level 2 and 3) in line with the recommendations of the BUGB

We recognise our responsibilities in safeguarding all children, young people and adults at risk associated with it, both directly and by supporting member churches.
We commit ourselves to the nurturing, protection and safeguarding of all those in our church communities, especially children, young people and adults at risk. In pursuit of this we commit ourselves to this policy and the development of sound procedures to implement our policy well.

You can download a copy of our Safeguarding policy here

Every church should adopt a safeguarding policy and have in place up-to-date procedures enabling ‘safeguarding’ to be a priority in their church context. The Baptist Union of Great Britain has a model policy and procedure to help you do that. This along with a number of other helpful resources can be found here.

Helpful documents

Trauma informed list of resources (June 2020)
Trauma informed practice (PowerPoint slide show)
Safeguarding guidance for churches (15 April 2021)
Gateway to Safeguarding (Feburary 2017)