Hi, this article got me thinking and this morning while on cleaning duty I had a word with Mike , my vicar about CoE child protection .He says that every area has a child protection officer , though I am not clear what that job involves exactly . However he also said that any vicar or representative of the church , I think part of the pastoral care team etc whether paid or unpaid has clear guidlines to follow . When someone starts to talk to any of the aformentioned church reps about something that might seem to be leading to an allegation of abuse the listener must say something like " Do you realise that if this conversation is going how I think it is going I will have to inform the police and relevant authorities ? " This then circumvents the problem of confessional privacy . So why can't the Watchtower use a similar system , then they can't use privacy as an excuse for reporting . ( I think I answered my own question there ! )
I asked him what you do if someone then said that they did not want the matter reported and so did not finish the coversation , but you knew then what the problem was . This then becomes difficult , Milke thought, because if you say to the person "well I think that you need help , go to your doctor( for example ) any professional would have to report , as far as he knows .
Someone would have to correct me about the last bit if that is not right . If it is then it might make it dificult to get help if you want the matter keping private .
However I felt good about the Cof E response to child abuse after that conversation . The church knows that lay people ie. people not trained specifically to deal with abuse victims should not get involved . Ministers can offer spiritual help , that is their training but let the professionals do their job . Mike also said that , of course child safety and preventing any further abuse is the first consideration.
Here endeth the Cof E advertisment . It is nice to be able to report something very positive for a change .