Copyright © 2005 All rights reserved. [Churches Child Protection Advisory Service]
CCPAS Director David Pearson gives evidence at one of the seminars in phase two of the Victoria Climbie Inquiry.
Read all submissions to Phase Two of the Victoria Climbie Inquiry
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New Regulations For Churches?
In final submissions to the Laming Inquiry into the tragic death of 8 year old Victoria Climbie, Counsel for her parents put statutory regulations for churches at the top of the list of concerns. Margot Boye told the Inquiry: "Having heard the evidence from several churches, it cannot be left to the churches to take on a welfare and childcare role…….if some sort of statutory regulation is not looked at there can be little doubt that some churches and religious institutions will continue to act in a manner that is totally at odds with the child's welfare."
The Inquiry has been hearing evidence since last September. Victoria died after months of beatings and starvation by her great-aunt and the woman's boyfriend. How did so many people - hospital staff, social workers, the police - miss the signs of abuse that killed her? Before her death, Victoria had been taken to three churches and ministers had been called to give evidence to the Inquiry. Amongst the many questions asked of them was just what training they had received on either their theological courses or since and had they heard of CCPAS? Sadly, they hadn't.
In a survey of theological colleges, CCPAS discovered that half made no mention of child abuse at all, and others devote as little as ten minutes or half an hour in courses lasting for three years. This sad affair must serve as a wake-up call to many colleges and the church generally. It's also a real challenge to us at CCPAS to make sure that churches and organisations know we are here to help, train and support.
CCPAS report to Inquiry
In our submission to the Inquiry, CCPAS say it should be acknowledged by way of mitigation that Victoria and her carers had only limited contact with churches. They attempted to show pastoral care to a very disturbed and frightened little girl.
Despite all the criticisms, the Christian people in question at least made some connection with Victoria and her aunt. They got closer to Victoria than all the official child protection agencies, and this makes what happened all the more tragic.
Sadly, it seems that Victoria herself believed that she was "evil" and "possessed", but in fact she was suffering abuse in the extreme. Trusting church leaders relied on her carers to seek medical attention and a taxi driver eventually drove Victoria to the hospital, but it was too late.
CCPAS have told the Inquiry that it is undeniable there are some churches and Christian groups which continue to be very lax with regard to safeguarding children. However, there is a danger in generalising from one case to child protection practice in churches across the UK as a whole. At CCPAS we are in contact with churches from all denominations and all shades of theological opinion who are conscientiously addressing these issues and who are struggling to deal with child protection within the church in a rigorous but sensitive and child-centred way.
Child-centred churches
This case emphasises the need for every church to be child-centred. After all, isn't this at the heart of the Gospel? Jesus said, " " The church is in a unique position, meeting week by week many vulnerable and needy children and it would not be over-dramatic to say that church leaders can sometimes be the last line of defence for a child. For years there has been stress on all organisations working with children, including churches, to have written procedures and guidance for workers. In many places, even where these exist, they can lie gathering dust on a shelf rather than being living documents shaping our work. Last but not least, we need to ensure that all ministers, priests and children's workers receive the training they need.
For years CCPAS has been working hard to address these issues. Over the last ten years we have probably run a thousand courses in churches and organisations, and these continue, with others using our video workpacks and other resources. We are grateful to our supporters for all the help we receive, both in terms of finance and prayer, to enable us to achieve our objectives. However, if we are to take the lessons of Victoria Climbie seriously, we need to be doing far more and we need our supporters behind us more than ever.
Another Climbie Tragedy?
Lack of training for Ministers.
The lack of child protection training in many theological colleges could lead to another tragedy, says CCPAS. This is how the news media reported the results of our survey on BBC Radio 4 News and in various newspapers and weeklies. Some local BBC radio stations also carried the item, interviewing David Pearson and local college principals. So what are the facts?
The survey was of 99 colleges, providing full-time training for at least a year. We asked what training our ministers of tomorrow receive in child protection and about other policy and practice issues. The overall response was 70%. However, responses from the traditional denominational colleges was nearer 100% (though disturbingly not all were prepared to answer the questionnaire), with a much poorer response from the others (43%). Of the colleges providing training, for some this was as little as ten or thirty minutes in a three year course. However, there were pockets of very good practice, particularly within the traditional denominations. Generally, though, the results of the survey make for grim reading.
CCPAS are most concerned that many college syllabuses devote so little time to what is one of the most complex and difficult tasks faced by ministers as they run their churches. Some colleges could even be described as complacent - one said its role was to teach theology not child protection.
Lack of child protection training was a particular concern in independent, pentecostal and Roman Catholic colleges. Only one Roman Catholic college even addressed the issue, in spite of recent scandals in the church. However, we welcome the Catholic church's acceptance of the Nolan recommendations and the newly formed Catholic Office for Protection of Children which it is hoped will lead to significant changes.
Several worrying questions remain. Clearly some colleges do not consider the issue important. We know nothing about the 30% who did not reply, though in two letters we emphasised the importance of the survey in terms of reporting the results to the Victoria Climbie Inquiry and the fact that a "no response" could be seen by some to be a "nil" return. Then there's the question of shorter, part-time courses and those run within local churches. The pastors giving evidence at the Inquiry said they received their theological training at such courses.
Please download any of the following documents in pdf format.
CCPAS submission to the Inquiry. David Pearson spoke at the Inquiry on 23rd March 2002
Full submission documents to the Inquiry This document contains all the information found in the documents below.
Statement made to the Inquiry by David Pearson Director of CCPAS.
Appendix 1: CCPAS sample Programme "Facing the Unthinkable" seminar
Appendix 2 Sample video workpack training programme
Appendix 3:CCPAS workers' pocket guides
Appendix 4CCPAS Response to issues raised in seminar topics
Second Statement to the Inquiry by CCPAS
Submission to Phase 2 of the Inquiry
