This Sunday, 10 October will be Safeguarding Sunday in the Church of England.

To re-affirm its commitment to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults, the Diocese in Europe will hold a half-day conference this Saturday, organised by the Diocesan Safeguarding Team. Bringing together Chaplaincy Safeguarding Officers (CSOs) from across the diocese, the focus of discussion will be “what does safe church mean?”

Bishop Robert will open the event and offer his perspectives, followed by the keynote speaker for the day, Ms Di Smith, Independent Chair of the Diocesan Safeguarding Advisory Committee. Di will speak on “The Context of Safeguarding within the Church”.

Ahead of the Conference, you can view short videos by Chaplaincy Safeguarding Officers from Marseille, Aix-en-Provence and the Luberon (left) and Ostend & Bruges (right), offering their perspectives on safe church. 

You can also meet the team in DST here in their recorded video for the event.

The Conference will include updates on Safer Recruitment, Training and how we are working in the diocese to achieve best practice by benchmarking chaplaincies’ safeguarding efforts. In addition, there will be group exercises and opportunities for CSOs to network.

Head of Safeguarding, Grace Fagan said:

“The aim of the conference is to inspire and equip you to promote a safe church”.

There will be a report on the Conference in European Anglicans magazine, due out later this month.