Safeguarding at St Simons Anglican Church

In recent years, the prevalence of abuse of the vulnerable, particularly of children, has come to light. One of the realities of living in a fallen world is that people have disordered affections. Studies have shown that abusers do not follow any set pattern and may come from any socio-economic, religious, age, or other background. Therefore, it is our moral duty before God to protect the most vulnerable among us. Before Almighty God and in compliance with Diocesan standards, we are implementing a whole church safeguarding ministry, which we are calling Safe Church.

Two key components of the Safe Church program are providing sexual abuse awareness training to all church leadership and anyone having contact with children, as well as conducting background checks on each of them.  Currently, all of our Kids’ Ministry workers, clergy, staff, and Servants’ Council members have completed safeguarding training (MinistrySafe). Additionally, anyone serving in Kids’ Ministry has undergone national and local background checks.

To develop and maintain an effective child safety system, we have established a coordinator to oversee the program.  Tess Hudson is our Safe Church Coordinator. As a retired federal law enforcement officer, she has experience not only investigating crimes involving abuse but also working with victims.  This experience makes her uniquely positioned to assist the church with best practices for safeguarding, as well as a trained person who is ready to act appropriately in the case of a report of abuse.

You can report abuse to our Safe Church Coordinator and ask her any questions about our policy and procedures by email at SafeChurch@stsimonsanglican.com.

Follow this link to go to the Diocesan Safeguarding webpage. You can read the full policy and submit an abuse report there.