The following instructions work on church sites and benefice site.
The House of Bishops has instructed all churches to display a safeguarding statement on the homepage of their website, and this includes their AChurchNearYou.com site.
You can do this by adding your statement into the main Page Content box on your AChurchNearYou.com homepage. In the past, this was the only option. However, now you also have the alternative option to use the new dedicated Safeguarding box on your AChurchNearYou.com homepage instead.
So, if you haven't already, we recommend copying and pasting your safeguarding statement to move it from the Page Content box to the Safeguarding box.
That way, your safeguarding information will stand out under a large 'Safeguarding' heading as part of the Safeguarding box. You can focus on giving a warm welcome in your Page Content box but still give the Safeguarding information the prominence it needs on your homepage.
Optional extras
We also encourage churches to use the 'add custom page' feature to create a Safeguarding page with additional information about safeguarding in their parish, and details of the Safe Spaces scheme.
If you choose to use the Safeguarding box on your homepage, you can add an optional button to link people from your homepage to a Safeguarding page you have created or to your Diocesan safeguarding pages.
About the Safeguarding box and how to move your safeguarding information from the Page Content box to the Safeguarding box
How to add safeguarding information to your homepage
- Open your church or benefice in editor view, so you can see the editor menu. Show me how.
- Click on homepage, names and logos in the editor menu.
- Scroll down to Safeguarding. Include a short statement about safeguarding. There is a suggested paragraph approved by the National Safeguarding Team in the text above the page content box. If you wish to use this, copy and paste the text into the page content box.
- Click save at the bottom of the page.
How to create a page about safeguarding
It is good practice to add a safeguarding page to your site to tell visitors more about safeguarding in your parish, and include contact details and downloadable documents, and information about the Safe Spaces scheme (see below).
Including information about Safe Spaces
This is suggested text that you can adapt for your situation, the key is the first sentence and the contact details.
Safe Spaces: a service for victims and survivors of church-related abuse
Safe Spaces is a free and independent support service for anyone who has experienced abuse in relation to the Church of England, the Church in Wales, or the Catholic Church of England and Wales. This could be abuse by someone who holds any role in the church or is linked to participating in a church-led activity or group.
If you have been affected, however long ago, Safe Spaces can provide you with support. You do not have need to have told the police or the church authorities, and you do not have to still be involved with the church. Your information will not be shared without your consent, unless you or someone else is in immediate danger. Safe Spaces can provide a range of help, including advocating with authorities and other agencies, giving emotional support, providing information (including information on church and police procedures), understanding your needs and working together on individual support plans.
Tel: 0300 303 1056 (answerphone available outside of opening times)
Email: safespaces@victimsupport.org.uk
LiveChat - via the Safe Spaces website
Diocesan safeguarding contacts
At the top of every page on AChurchNearYou.com there is a safeguarding button which provides a link to Diocesan safeguarding contacts.
FAQ
Churches in my area all have the same safeguarding statement at the top of their homepage. Is this an error? I would expect this text should appear in the safeguarding box on their homepage.
Naturally many churches will indeed have a safeguarding message in an identical format on their homepages, because they will be working from the same template text we provide and may well have chosen to use the template text unedited.
It's also not an error that the text appears at the top of the homepage rather than in the safeguarding box. The church may have added the text to the page content box before the safeguarding box existed.
When we introduced the safeguarding box, we didn't move any text churches already had on their pages.
Now the safeguarding box exists, churches have the option to manually move their safeguarding information to the safeguarding box if they want to, but we haven’t moved it for them.
In cases where a church ONLY has safeguarding text on their homepage, and no welcome message, this is not a system error. There are some churches whose editors have only added safeguarding text to their homepages and then not written anything else.