Speak Up!
No matter how minor your concern seems, you will be heard, taken seriously, and kept confidential.
Report your concerns to our Safe Ministry Representative.
Need guidance?
Unsure who to speak to, what is reportable or how to report abuse?
Read this guide to understand what to do if you suspect abuse or disclosure.
Report Abuse
Call the 1800 774 945 report line or report in writing by secure form or email. All reports are acted on promptly.
In an emergency call 000
At United Youth, we are committed to creating a community where all people are welcomed, respected, cared for, and protected. We want Youth to be a place where people can participate with confidence, grow in faith, build healthy relationships, and encounter the love of Christ in an environment that is emotionally, physically, and spiritually safe. Safe Ministry is a key part of that commitment.
Safe Ministry is the framework through which we seek to ensure that all our ministries and activities are safe for everyone, especially children, youth, young people, and vulnerable adults. It involves clear policies, safer recruitment and screening, regular training, healthy leadership practices, and appropriate procedures for responding to concerns.
We believe that ministry to children, youth and vulnerable people is both a privilege and a serious responsibility. When people entrust themselves, their children, or their loved ones to the life of a church/ youth community, that trust should be met with wisdom, integrity, and care. Safe Ministry helps us honour that trust.
Why Safe Ministry Matters
The church should be a place of safety, refuge, truth, and love. It should be a community where people are able to hear God’s word, ask questions, form friendships, and grow in their walk with Christ without fear of harm, abuse, neglect, manipulation, or unsafe behaviour.
Safe Ministry matters because people matter. Children, youth, young people, and vulnerable adults are deeply valuable and worthy of protection, dignity, and care. As a church, we take seriously our responsibility to provide safe ministry environments and to promote a culture that reflects the character of Christ.
Safe Ministry is also important because good intentions alone are not enough. Churches need clear expectations, wise structures, and practical safeguards that help prevent harm and support healthy ministry. Safe Ministry enables us to move beyond simply reacting to issues and instead build a proactive culture of care, accountability, and responsibility.
What Safe Ministry Includes
Safe Ministry involves a range of policies, procedures, standards, and practices that support the wellbeing of those involved in church life.
These include:
Safer Recruitment and Screening
Leaders, staff, and volunteers serving in ministries involving children, youth and vulnerable people are appropriately screened before serving. This may include interviews, reference checks, role descriptions, and Working With Children Checks where required. These measures help ensure that those serving in positions of trust are suitable, accountable, and prepared for ministry.
Training and Ongoing Awareness
Relevant leaders and volunteers undertake Safe Ministry training and renew that training as required. This helps equip ministry workers to understand their responsibilities, recognise risks, maintain healthy boundaries, and respond appropriately to concerns.
Clear Standards of Conduct
Safe Ministry provides clear expectations about behaviour, leadership boundaries, and ministry practice. These standards help create clarity and consistency across church life and encourage healthy, respectful, and accountable relationships.
Risk Management and Supervision
Safe Ministry includes practical steps to reduce risk in ministry activities and events, especially in higher-risk settings such as children’s programs, youth groups, camps, transport, and one-to-one situations. Careful planning, appropriate supervision, and wise leadership practices all contribute to safer ministry environments.
Reporting and Responding to Concerns
Safe Ministry includes clear procedures for reporting and responding to concerns, disclosures, allegations, or unsafe behaviour. We are committed to taking concerns seriously and responding appropriately, sensitively, and responsibly in accordance with our obligations and church procedures.
What Safe Ministry Achieves
A strong Safe Ministry culture helps create church environments that are safer, healthier, and more trustworthy for everyone involved.
It helps to:
- Protect children, youth, young people, and vulnerable adults from harm
- support leaders and volunteers to serve wisely and responsibly
- Provide clear expectations and healthy boundaries in ministry
- Strengthen trust within the church community
- Ensure concerns are addressed appropriately and responsibly
- Promote a culture of respect, accountability, and care
Safe Ministry also supports families, parents, and newcomers by giving confidence that the church is committed to taking safety seriously and caring well for those entrusted to it.
A Culture of Care
Safe Ministry is not only about compliance or policy. It is about culture.
We want to foster a Youth culture in which people are treated with dignity, leaders act with wisdom and integrity, concerns are taken seriously, and vulnerable people are protected. Safe Ministry is one of the ways we seek to love our neighbour well and serve one another faithfully.
By embedding Safe Ministry into the life of our church and Youth ministry, we aim to create an environment where people can participate in Youth ministry life with confidence, where leaders are supported to serve well, and where ministry can flourish in a way that honours God and cares for people.
Our Commitment
We are committed to maintaining Safe Ministry practices across all ministries involving children, Youth, young people, and vulnerable adults. This includes appropriate screening, Safe Ministry training, clear behavioural expectations, wise supervision, risk management, and proper reporting procedures.
Our desire is that our Youth ministry would be a place where people are not only welcomed, but also protected, respected, and cared for.
If you would like to know more about our Safe Ministry practices, please contact the church office or our youth minister Keats Davaram: keats@bhkanglican.org.au
All our leaders have completed accredited Safe Ministry training and hold a valid Working With Children Check.
