How to Ensure Church Safety for Children

Church safety is very important – and that especially for children. This is why it is important to have strategies and policies to make sure that everyone is safe. The reality is that we live in a world where people and especially children face many dangers and it is the duty of the church to ensure that they do not fall into those dangers – at least while they are in church.

What the dangers are:

• Children are prone to fall prey to kidnappers, Sex Offenders, Bullies, Food contamination, Accidents during play and transportation, or drugs. Church safety demands that we ensure everyone is safe from the above.

How to Ensure Church Safety for Children:

• Conduct extensive background checks on all staff and volunteers who deal with children for the sake of church safety. Conduct psychological profiling, employment history checks, criminal history checks and any other necessary background checks to ensure that children are not put under any risks at all. No one should work with children at all until he or she has been attending the church and well known to you for more than 6 months. No one. Employees and volunteers should be limited to working with the children within the church premises; they must never be permitted to move children to another location. Each group of children has to be placed under more than one adult, and they must never be left unsupervised because this can lead to accidents or bullying.

• Always welcome parents to attend or otherwise involve themselves in whatever children programs are in church. This ensures accountability and helps you to benefit from parents suggestions. They will often point out church safety risks that are not apparent to church staff.

• This should go without saying, but it still deserves a mention. Never allow any employee, volunteer or guest to view, display or even carry any pornographic material while in church. For a child to be exposed to pornography would be a gross violation of church safety.

• Train all staff and volunteers– as well as children about church safety and how to prevent sexual abuse. Preventing sexual abuse has to be a collective effort involving the entire church. Children have to be trained on boundaries – physical, emotional and behavioral. Training for children should extend to general self protection that will enable them to ward off child molesters, who pose a church safety risk. Such training can also help children who have already fallen victim to know what to do.

• Decide on the church safety protocol for dealing with any complaints raised with regards to the behavior of staff and volunteers.

• All foods and beverages prepared for children’s consumption have to be prepared according to food and safety regulations – with no exceptions. Be sure to keep track of children with food allergies. Click here for details on church safety for the nursery.

• Erect signs or physical barriers to make sure children do not venture where they are not supposed to go. This is important especially during play time for the sake of church safety. Remember to keep children away from any electrical appliances.

• Be careful about following safety guidelines when putting up bounce houses and bonfires among other play tools. This will ensure that even during playtime, children are kept safe.

• Work closely with parents to ensure that children are picked from church as soon as Sunday school or VBS is over. This reduces the chances of children getting lost. Also ensure that children do not leave the church premises without their parents or other legal guardian.

• Finally, have a first aid kit on hand and take the volunteers and staff through first aid training. This will improve the level of church safety. Church security is not a difficult thing if taken seriously.