Professional Standards Update
Working With Children Checks (WWCC) are required for most in leadership positions and also for those who would normally work with children.
For our Northern Territory members a WWCC is an Ochre Card. If you have a current police check (NPC), this is no longer sufficient. Members cannot start working with children without a current WWCC. If you only hold an NPC or your WWCC is approaching expiry it is now urgent for you to apply for a WWCC.
Guidelines for safe online ministry with young people are now available online https://www.lca.org.au/departments/ministry-support/communications/online-communication/. Other social media documents are also available on the same page.
Even though most congregations have now already set up online ministry events, it’s not too late to review what is being done and how it is being done.
As with any ministry event it should be planned well, risk assessed and managed, and formally approved by your governing council (possibly through the SP3 system and Permission to Proceed).
Please do not underestimate the need for this or dangers present. Unscrupulous persons have already been taking advantage of the current situation.
Planning for resuming face-to-face Safe Church Training workshops is now resuming. We hope these will again be possible by September, but these will be subject to government restrictions at that time. While face-to-face delivery is still our preferred form of delivery, the training is also currently available online and will continue to be offered online.
In addition to the full version of Safe Church Training, we are pleased to be able to introduce Safe Church Refresher Training, which is available now online.
Refresher training is a condensed version of our Safe Church training, which is for people who:
- Have completed all Safe Church training components up to the applicable level since 2017
- Now need to update their Safe Church training (valid for three years)
Safe Church Refresher Training is half the length of the full version. Please allow at least three hours (and it helps to have good internet access). It is a combination of working through written content, videos, scenarios and activities.
As with the Safe Church Level 1 online training, it is hosted online by ALC’s iLearn platform. It is not a live webinar and can be completed any time. The training does not need to be completed in one attempt. You will be able to save your work and come back later to finish the session.
The training fee, to be charged to your local congregation or ministry, is $15.
You can register through the Safe Church training page. Please note the registration process can take up to a week.
For those who would prefer, a face-to-face version of refresher training will also be made available at a similar time to full training. www.lca.org.au/psd-training
If you require assistance with any of the above, please call 8267 5211 or email psd.sa-nt@lca.org.au to discuss your situation.
READ MORE STORIES ABOUT Professional Standards
