Safeguarding

Our Church Safeguarding Officer is: Gerry Stacey

Email address: safeguarding@itchenvalleychurches.org

Telephone number: 07554 438973

Diocese Safeguarding Team (Jackie Rowlands for advice or to register concerns): telephone 01962 737317; mobile: 07921 865374

email: safeguarding@winchester.anglican.org

Rector:  Vacant

Any child wishing to talk about a problem can contact Childline on 0800 1111.

Any parent or carer wishing to talk about parenting problems can contact Family Lives on

0808 800 2222.

999 emergency service number – for immediate risk/danger.

Children / Adult Safeguarding – out of hours contact number(s), for the local authority area:

Hampshire (Children and Adults)

0300 555 1373

Southampton (Children and Adults)

02380 233344

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (Children)

01202 738256

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (Adults):

0300 123 9895

Dorset (Children):

01305 221000

Dorset (Adult)

01305 221016

The Winchester Diocese website Safeguarding resources and be found here.

 

Parish Safeguarding Policy Statement

The following policy was agreed by the PCC of the Itchen Valley Parish at the meeting held on 28 January 2025

In light of our commitment to bring all of our church’s life into the light of Christ and under his lordship, the Itchen Valley Parochial Church Council has gladly adopted the safeguarding policies and procedures of the Church of England, including the House of Bishops’ Promoting a Safer Church Safeguarding Policy. 

This parochial church council has adopted the Church of England Safeguarding Policies and Practice Guidance at the Parochial Church Council (PCC) meeting held on Tuesday 28 January 2025.

In particular our church is committed to:

  • Promoting a safer environment and culture.
  • Safely recruiting and supporting all those with any responsibility related to children, young people and vulnerable adults within the church.
  • Responding promptly to every safeguarding concern or allegation.
  • Caring pastorally for victims/survivors of abuse and other affected persons.
  • Caring pastorally for those who are the subject of concerns or allegations of abuse and other affected persons.
  • Responding to those that may pose a present risk to others.

The Parish will:

  • Create a safe and caring place for all.
  • Have a named Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO) to work with the incumbent and the PCC to implement policy and procedures.
  • Safely recruit, train and support all those with any responsibility for children, young people and adults so that they have the confidence and skills to recognise and respond to abuse.
  • Ensure that there is appropriate insurance cover for all activities involving children and adults undertaken in the name of the parish.
  • Display in church premises and on the Parish website the details of the person to be contacted if there are safeguarding concerns or support needs.
  • Listen to and take seriously all those who disclose abuse.
  • Take steps to protect children and adults when a safeguarding concern of any kind arises, following House of Bishops guidance, including notifying the Diocesan Safeguarding Manager (DSM) and statutory agencies immediately.
  • Offer support to victims/survivors of abuse regardless of the type of abuse, when or where it occurred.
  • Following advice from the Diocesan Safeguarding Manager, support and manage the safe involvement of any member of the church community who may pose a risk to children and adults whilst maintaining appropriate confidentiality and the safety of all parties.
  • Ensure that procedures and risk assessments are in place and that these are reviewed annually.
  • Review the implementation of the Safeguarding Policy, Procedures and Practices at least annually.

Each person who works within this church community will agree to abide by this policy; the Church of England safeguarding policies and practice guidance; and the procedures/guidelines established by this church

A biblical perspective

In recent years the issue of safeguarding vulnerable people from abuse by others has rightly become a major focus of attention in most denominations within the Christian Church. Shocking stories of abuse by clergy and others—when supposed to be acting ‘in Christ’s name’—have highlighted that the Church cannot naively presume to be a ‘safe space’. And the Church of England, as the recent Makin Report makes all too clear, is far from immune.

We in the Itchen Valley Parish grieve with all those who have suffered abuse and long for our own Church family to be a genuinely ‘safe space’ where people can freely access (without interference from others) the love, truth and grace that uniquely come from Jesus Himself and where their own vulnerabilities will not be taken advantage of by other human beings pursuing their own selfish, personal agendas.

To this end, we take the issue of safeguarding with the utmost seriousness—not simply to guard our reputation in the eyes of those outside the Church or to ‘tick a box’ and ‘signal our virtue’—but because Jesus Christ, who Himself suffered the most appalling abuse on the Cross but is now the Risen Lord, expects His Church to be ‘above reproach’ in this area and to uphold his ‘gold standards’ of love, truthfulness, holiness and purity.

So we seek to ensure that all our public meetings reflect the love and truth of Christ and that any times of private ‘pastoral care’ offered in Christ’s name are conducted responsibly and in a spirit of accountability to others. We also want to be a fellowship that is appropriately aware of the possibilities of abuse in other spheres of people’s lives and to be a community which offers a healing environment for all who have suffered abuse.

Jesus proclaimed that he was “the Light of the World” and that his followers were called not to “walk in darkness but to have the light of life” (John 8:12). Our goal —both as individuals and as a community—is therefore to be walking in the light of Christ, allowing His light to penetrate our own darkness and holding up His Light such that others also may come into that light and so enjoy ‘the light of life’.