Updated Thursday
The Church of England issued the following press release today.
Safeguarding Data Report 2015-17
19/06/2019
Safeguarding data has been published today taken from annual safeguarding returns, collected by dioceses from 2015-17 and sent to the National Safeguarding Team. This is the first time that trends have been analysed over a three-year period.
The Church of England consists of more than 16,000 churches across the country; with around 1.14 million adults and children making up the regular worshipping community. This means it comes into contact with vast numbers of children, young people and adults every day of the week and safeguarding them is a priority. The majority of safeguarding-related concerns or allegations relate to children or vulnerable adults who attend or who have contact with the Church and their lives within the community.
In any report about data of this nature, it is important to recognise that behind each statistic is a person. Safeguarding is about everyone’s wellbeing and means the action the Church takes to promote a safer culture; it is about valuing every person as made in God’s image.
Update
Press reports
Madeleine Davies Church Times Safeguarding reports grow by a half in two years
The full text of the MACSAS (Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors) press release referred to in this article is here.
Harriet Sherwood The Guardian Church of England finds 50% rise in abuse claims and concerns
Regrettably, the ‘Safeguarding’ agenda is still being controlled by the very people within the Church hierarchy who have caused the catastrophic Safeguarding failures in the first place. Of course, Safeguarding is concerned with the Duty of Care for children and young people sexually abused; but Safeguarding must also concern itself, for example, with the Duty of Care for vulnerable adults falsely accused of sexual abuse. Children, young people and adults have all been wronged by the Church – so they all must come under the umbrella of Safeguarding. The senior clergy within the Blackburn Diocese commends the study of Chichester… Read more »
Bearing in mind how large the numbers are for ‘Other’ abuse, in Figure 2, maybe in future reports this category should be broken down into sections?
I agree – that’s an astonishingly high figure for “Other” abuse in Figure 2 published today. Does anyone know what specific abuse might come under that unspecific category?
If the largest percentage of “Other” relates to breaches of Safeguarding/Duty of Care for vulnerable adults (eg clergy) who are falsely accused of abuse. then the Church of England faces a ‘cover-up’ scandal of a magnitude on a par with those sexually abused.
Yet more words. Who are they for? Will anyone take this press release seriously? This is a dreadful time to be a public representative of the Church of England.