Keeping People Safe
“Safeguarding isn’t a tickbox exercise. It’s important to keep people safe.”
Jane Hazell is a safeguarding representative for Canford Magna, one of the largest parishes in the diocese with three well-attended churches.
“My journey to this point started as a girl, when I went to church with my father in London. I don’t know why, but we just stopped when I was twelve.
“When my son was a baby, I asked the local parish church about baptism. The curate asked me why, and I said I wanted him in God’s family. From then on I got quite involved in church.
“We moved to Merley in 1990 and started going to Canford Magna Parish Church. I’d say this is where I really got to know the Lord, at an Alpha weekend.
“I was a secondary teacher with training in special needs and inclusion. I was employed as a safeguarding lead for a Bournemouth high school in the 2000s.
“When I retired, I was asked to take over the parish safeguarding role. At first I thought it would be a short-term thing, but I’ve been doing it since 2012.
“The parish has lots of young people’s activities – Sunday groups and weekday mother and toddler groups in all three churches. We also have groups for older people who may be vulnerable.
“People go to church for many reasons. Most because they’re Christians, some because they’re lonely. Realistically, a few come with an ulterior motive.
“We need to have good systems in place to protect people from harm. We are all challenged in different ways. Safeguarding involves not putting people in a position where their vulnerabilities will cause problems.
“It can be hard work but also rewarding, for example, when people confide in you as they trust you and know you care. When I run safeguarding training, some people arrive unenthusiastic. By the time it’s finished, they are much more positive about how important it is to have the right processes in place.”
Learn more about safeguarding in the Diocese and what you can do to make our churches safer here.
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