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Since childhood I’ve been fascinated by borders. Early memories include regular train travel up the East Coast mainline to see various relatives and my dad helped the journey pass by pointing out many sights along the way as well as key boundaries that we crossed. First, Nottinghamshire (his county of birth) into Yorkshire (my mother’s) just south of Doncaster, then crossing the River Tees into County Durham (Land of the Prince Bishops) and swiftly followed by the Tyne to reach Newcastle. The big ‘I Spy’ spot was the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick upon Tweed, although we knew the real border with Scotland was a couple of miles further north. Passing Ayton Castle, all red stone and Scottish Baronial in architectural style, confirmed you were in a very different part of the UK. 400 metres from my home which now finds itself in Tier 3, London gives way to Surrey, in Tier 2 for the moment. You know you have crossed the boundary as the road surface changes and there is a sign that welcomes you to the District council. But otherwise nothing much changes but from tonight a lot does. Our church is in Tier 2 and so we should not go to the Carol Service. We have agreed to deliver Christmas cards but I think this is a voluntary commitment that can be honoured later this week. Like millions in other parts of the country, we in London are having to adjust to further limits on what we can do and where we can go. One of my regular walking routes takes me into a nature reserve in Tier 2. Shall I stop at the border and turn around? Like many others I greeted the inevitable news yesterday with a mixture of resignation and a fair degree of frustration – there had even been the possibility of heading to SE25 to see Liverpool play on Saturday. Not being able to play in the Carol Service worship band is a sadness. But in the scheme of things these are not critically important. What is very important though is the news published by the NSPCC last week about the huge increase in the number of calls they have received from children who are scared at home as a result of lockdown. The report cited a range of contributory factors including family frustration and the inherent tension this can cause. The key issue for us as church, as ever, is to keep our eyes and ears open as best we are able and share any concerns we spot with our safeguarding officers. We need to respect our borders when this will help to keep us safe. But equally we also need to think how we can cross them safely to support and protect others.

Are there more lights in the streets this Christmas and have they arrived earlier? Our road is festooned with glittering trees and bushes and most windows already seem to have brightly lit trees in them. We shall have to catch up! I’m thinking that this year the longing for light in our darkness is much stronger than usual and at whatever level, many people are keen to demonstrate and visualise this as clearly as possible. Hence the greater profusion of lights and swirling house front messages I feel. This morning, Tuesday, there was another ray of light as the first person was vaccinated and so the light at the end of the tunnel imagery is coming to the fore. This time of year we are obviously thinking theologically about the Light coming into the world, and in a week or two, at the winter solstice the year starts to turn around again! So an overload of imagery, analogy and reality. A couple of years ago I wrote in this column about an old poster I saw in a Yorkshire village museum that advertised a special service on December 22nd to celebrate the year’s turning and the prospect of longer and brighter days ahead. I linked this to the image of a single lighted candle we have kept in all our safeguarding training course materials, that represents the glimmer of light that a survivor of abuse told us they had glimpsed when we published our Past Cases Review report back in 2015. As the vaccine gets rolled out, as the year turns, as we celebrate Christ’s birth and as we launch the survivor penned study guide that was referenced here two weeks ago, we hope the safeguarding candle will start to burn even brighter in 2021.

I’m venturing into dangerous territory. Mathematics, for me, is a difficult area, and especially the mysterious world of statistics. I only scrambled a Maths O level (remember them?) at the second time of asking and since then I have avoided too much contact with figures except when I have little choice in the matter. But I think many of us have become armchair statisticians of late as we scrutinize our local infection rates for possible movement in the R number. Mathematical modelling, as shared in the Government’s published paper today, is the new currency that can dictate whether churches can remain open or whether we will be enjoying an alfresco Christmas dinner with our nearest and dearest. Decisions both large and small, national and personal, are now based on a complex formula of numbers and making reasoned predictions. We look for clear downward movement that might spell some return to the new normal. Some readers who may remember my ‘pre-retirement’ career in a London borough may also recall that I used to lead the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy. Stating this in less than polite company could raise a brief smirk, but my job was to ensure that a robust multiagency approach was sustained to drive down the number of teenage pregnancies, year on year. Being a pregnant teenager was deemed to lower life chances and put the baby on the path to child poverty. Each month or quarter we received figures from the Department of Health which showed how well we were doing and we would be RAG-rated in a public document. Being in the red did not do much for your standing with Ofsted and if our figures were going the wrong way there would be a summons to the Director of Children’s Services office. The trouble was that already being a local authority with a very low rate, literally one or two extra pregnancies a month would turn your score box from green to red. -The power of percentages! So what about our Methodist Church safeguarding statistics? What story do they tell? There isn’t space to go into all the detail, but I am often asked whether all the attention paid to safeguarding in recent years has impacted on the number of cases of abuse coming to notice. The honest answer is that I don’t think we really know and reports that reach our District Safeguarding teams are not often as clear as data about infection rates or pregnancies – you can’t be sort of pregnant for example. Yes, some clear cut matters become recordable ‘cases’ but other reports are more nuanced and may simply require local corrective action to avoid concerning attitudes or poor practice turning into something more significant. What we do know, however, is that a key part of the safeguarding task is enabling people who have been hurt to speak out with confidence. This may be about something that happened 30 years or three days ago. Most safeguarding officers report that they are busy and the lockdown hasn’t slowed their work rate. Some Districts are expanding their teams. Every published report from IICSA has empowered people to come forward and tell their own story. The Church’s commitment to tackle Domestic Abuse is an invitation to recognise and respond well to those who feel frightened and trapped in abusive relationships. This isn’t work that is going to go away or reduce. We may be able to differentiate between new matters that occur despite the proliferation of training and safe recruitment methods, and those that have their origins in earlier times, but for each set of statistics we keep there is a set of stories that matter far more than numeric values or percentage variations. In Advent we are sometimes reminded that Mary was in all likelihood a teenage mum. Her baby was longed for by a waiting world, whatever the local authorities in Nazareth may have thought about it and how the pregnancy affected their performance indicators. Sometimes we have to set mathematics to one side.

So it had to come. I’m writing this with the match between Burnley and Crystal Palace on in the background and at this point the team from London SE25 is losing. Typical, when all the pundits suggested an away win. You get used to it, but as in life, nothing is ever easy or straightforward. So an angst ridden second half awaits. If safeguarding was easy then perhaps we would not have the range of issues we have to contend with, and of course how we ‘do’ safeguarding as a Church means focusing on a number of different aspects of church life and working with a range of key players; property teams, pastoral visitors, children’s workers and now on line worship planners for example. This also makes the task less straightforward but in the end there is generally a view that safeguarding considerations should predominate. But to embed this culture fully there is arguably a way to go and so a new publication, a study guide entitled ‘Reflect and Respond’ is commended to all churches so that they can deepen collective learning about why we continue to strive for doing things even better. ‘Reflect and Respond’ is being published very shortly and is a four part study guide, ideal for house groups, that aims to set the survivor experience in the context of ‘Our Calling’. Prepared by a group of survivors of abuse, the guide poses some important questions for churches to address that should reinforce that now familiar message of ‘safeguarding is everyone’s business’. Alongside the guide a leaflet is also being published that will be made available to each church which will describe what happens next if a person chooses to disclose information about abuse they have either suffered themselves or they are aware of. Do look out for the leaflets and the online ‘flyer’ that will promote the guide. If you want an update, there has been no relief from the personal angst as the second half seems to be following a familiar trajectory. I’m hopeful though that these new publications will help smooth the way towards the goal of really making our churches very safe places to be. Look out for them and respond.

This week is National Safeguarding Adults Week, so this blog provides the script used in a presentation at the Connexional webinar on Safeguarding Adults that was held on November 17th. This section summarises Domestic Abuse, one of three topics covered in the webinar, which was attended by almost 200 people. Domestic abuse is a prominent example of an abuse type that has seen an increase during this time of lockdown. Some living with an abusive partner or family member have seen an escalation in abuse due to the added tensions and frustration caused by the whole family having to stay indoors. The tensions can be further increased where families are living in cramped, temporary accommodation. The abuser may experience additional anxiety about, for example, supplies of food, alcohol, medication and illicit drugs. Equally they may be concerned about lack of money, redundancy, frequent changes of regulations and lack of social contact. The consequences of this could be escalated abuse of those around them. People who are experiencing abuse may be less likely to ask for help as they know that emergency services are stretched. Fewer visitors to the household may mean that evidence of physical abuse goes unnoticed. What is domestic abuse? It’s not just about violence and includes a range of other coercive and controlling behaviours, including: -sexual, economical, verbal, religious, emotional and psychological abuse; stalking and harassment; honour based violence, forced marriage. It can happen between those who have been intimate partners or between family members. Coercive behaviour is an act or pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten the victim. Domestic abuse and coercive behaviour happens irrespective of gender or sexuality. Who is affected? Research suggests that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men will experience domestic abuse at some point in their lives. This means that during the course of your church work you will encounter people who have been or are experiencing domestic abuse. Remember, people you worship with, friends and acquaintances, are not immune from Domestic Abuse either - any one of them may be experiencing domestic abuse of one form or another. Children in households where there is domestic abuse may carry the psychological scars for decades and where the behaviour is normalised, there may be a greater likelihood of them becoming perpetrators or victims in their teenage/adult life. What to look out for People affected by domestic abuse may exhibit one or more of the following signs :- Low self-confidence and esteem, always checking in with their partner, change in socialising and behaviours, unexplained injuries, financial worries, become withdrawn, changes in how they present themselves (clothes, hair, make up etc.), withdrawn and uncommunicative. Repairs - have the Police asked for a lock change? Is there damage to internal walls and doors? (Especially bathroom/ toilet doors). Are there unexplained injuries, debts or rent arrears? Why is it important? Nationally, on average 2 women a week and 30 men a year are killed by a current or former intimate partner. 30 women a day attempt suicide and 3 a week are successful in their attempt. Hundreds more commit suicide after attending hospital for treatment for DV related injuries. Domestic abuse is a crime – we all have a duty to act. What’s my role? If you have a leadership or safeguarding role in the life of your church, you are probably already working with Domestic Abuse! Doing nothing is not an option! Make sure you are familiar with the Church’s Domestic Abuse and Safeguarding Policies and follow the reporting procedures that we have instituted. If your concerns relate to someone you work with closely in church life – speak to your minister. Take the time to familiarise yourself with the Methodist Church Safeguarding web site on and the Domestic Abuse pages – it will shortly give more information for church leaders and safeguarding officers and will provide a directory of support services available locally and nationally. Checking things out and safe inquiry Take protective measures to ensure that any discussions with potential victims of abuse are conducted in a safe and confidential environment without interruptions. Ask direct questions about abuse, but only when the victim is on their own and in a private place, don’t assume someone else will ask at another time. If interpreters are needed always use professional interpreters, never use family members, children or friends where abuse is known or suspected. Keep good records If you make a referral to your local Domestic Abuse Service they may ask you for more information. It’s best to discuss referral with your DSO first unless it is an emergency. Details will be shared with the Police and other agencies who will decide on how best to respond. The fact that you made the referral will not be shared with any of the parties involved. If you want to know more about Safeguarding Adults Week click on the link below. https://www.anncrafttrust.org/events/national-safeguarding-adults-week/#:~:text=National%20Safeguarding%20Adults%20Week%202019%20will%20take%20place,adults%20%E2%80%93%20so%20we%20can%20be%20better%2C%20together.

‘Tribute to woman unjustly locked away in asylum after calling vicar a liar’ was the headline of an article in my Sunday paper this week. The year was 1837, the place Doncaster, and the woman in question, Mary Heaton, called out her local vicar during one of his sermons alleging that he had not paid the fees for his children’s music lessons that she had been providing. She called him ‘a whited sepulchre, a thief, a liar and a hypocrite’. She was brought to court, labelled ‘a lunatic insane and dangerous idiot’. Her sentence was to be locked up in a West Riding asylum in Wakefield for 41 years. Mary is now being honoured with a blue plaque, one of 12 ‘Forgotten Women of Wakefield.’ For some people, trying to speak truth to power about a safeguarding matter has been particularly challenging, and although they will probably have not been locked away in the literal sense, the strong feeling of being consistently disbelieved, being seen by those in authority as a nuisance or even ‘hysterical’ will seem like a life sentence. They may have been trying to be heard for years or even decades. Challenging authority and the status quo, and seen not to be conforming, can be a pretty uncomfortable place to be. Following the 2015 Past Cases Review, the Church has spent a good deal of time and effort reflecting on its culture, aiming to ensure that it is a safe place in which people affected can tell their stories of abuse or bullying behaviour. Later this month it is planned to deliver to every church in the Connexion a pack of leaflets that describe what survivors of abuse can expect to happen if they wish to make a disclosure. Written by a group of survivors who have had the courage to step forward, the leaflets are designed to be easily accessible in church entrances. Along with the previously described posters, this development hopefully signals an invigorated approach to hearing about and responding to safeguarding concerns directly from those who have been impacted in any way that chimes with the recommendations stemming from the IICSA inquiry. Mary Heaton died in 1877 and was buried in a pauper’s grave. During her imprisoned life she had been exposed to numerous ‘treatments’ that in fact contributed to her failing mental and physical health. The researcher into Mary’s life, quoted in the article, described her ‘broken spirit’. Many survivors of abuse who have tried to tell their story either unsuccessfully or at great personal cost over time, may well see echoes of this sense of being worn down in their own life experience. The Church’s job is therefore to provide a safe space to listen and then act promptly and decisively whenever abuse is called out.

We were driving back from the Suffolk coast on Saturday when we learnt about lockdown mark 2. We were relieved that we had been able to spend a few days away in a different place despite it being generally wet, wild and windswept. There were a couple of half days when it really sparkled and these provided the opportunity for some good walking. On these occasions if we pass old country churches we often call in for a few moments, sometimes to appreciate the architecture or history and at other times just to take the weight off our feet. Invariably I’m drawn to the noticeboards to see if the safeguarding information is visible and up to date. Generally these are Anglican churches which have more of an open door tradition than Methodist churches, and so this busman’s holiday activity is not designed to name and shame! However in the current circumstances it’s not always been easy to gain access and as we grapple with what being open for private prayer means and how it can be effected, I wonder about how people will know that we aim still to be a safe church even if they can’t see visible signs of our commitment? In late August all churches were sent glossy posters summarising our safeguarding policies with space for local information. To be displayed prominently, their aim is to ensure that all who visit our churches, for whatever purpose, know what we stand for and how to access advice and guidance, and care and support if required. The irony for the next four weeks at least is that these items will not be widely seen. We know that we will continue to strive to be a safe church, but how can we continue to represent this to the wider world and local community when we are not doing the things we usually do? I recall a song that says ‘they’ll know we are Christians by our love’ and of course our churches will no doubt continue to be highly active in supporting vulnerable individuals. The challenge is to demonstrate that we do this work safely, and that we continue to be vigilant so as to maintain our determined approach to safeguarding, even when we may not be open. Being hidden from view, or appearing secretive, can be a rich breeding ground for abusive behaviour of many different types. Therefore let’s try to think creatively about the ways that we can show our ongoing commitment to safeguarding. I know this blog gets reprinted in some online church notice sheets. Do we need to append our safeguarding officers’ details to each week’s edition along with that of other key contacts? Would it help to provide a short monthly news item about what’s been happening locally and the roll out of online training? This is not a one size fits all approach, but simply an invitation to consider how best to keep the safeguarding agenda alive and kicking in these strange times.

As ever in this strange year, it’s difficult to know quite where to start another piece about the safeguarding agenda. Our churches and groups are not meeting normally and if you straddle two tiers in terms of your church and home addresses, it’s difficult always to know where things stand in terms of what’s OK/not OK. Yesterday on a lengthy autumnal walk in Surrey, we came to a pub that sits exactly at the point where two Tier 2 local authorities and one Tier One authority meet. They had decided to go with the London rules so my son and I from different households had to eat outside. London District has strongly recommended that churches consider closing again. One newspaper today leads on the concern expressed strongly by Prince William about a looming mental health crisis. My own conversations with friends over the last couple of weeks have begun to show me that this is something that concerns them too. Our churches, too, have also begun to highlight this issue and no doubt we will soon be getting more familiar with the signs and symptoms we will be asked to spot. It’s timely then that the Connexional Safeguarding Team is planning a short course for District Safeguarding Officers to equip them to respond with confidence when churches approach them for advice and guidance about a safeguarding concern where there is a perceived mental health dimension. Mental Health was the subject of our annual training conference in 2019 and so this course and potentially some other webinars to come will build on the work we started then. In so doing we must give a shout out to our friends the Quakers who have done some pioneering work in this area to support their local meetings. Our own approach is designed to ensure that the learning about best practice cascades down to local churches. Talking of shout outs, last week’s piece about children’s use of zoom, I should stress, was very much prompted by a colleague’s particular interest and concern about the issue which in turn led to the active consideration of what was going to be safe practice at 3Generate. Safeguarding needs individual champions to take an issue, explore it and then take steps to make sure it is given due regard. Without this spirit of activism we may never get to know what we need to adapt and develop. Mental Health champions are really going to be needed.

Many of us have now become Zoom experts over the last few months and that experience looks set to continue after a brief late summer hope that it would all be over by Christmas. We may not have mastered all the options of chat and waiting rooms, but we are probably familiar with an emerging etiquette of camera switch off and microphone muting. The Church has endeavoured to make sure that Zoom engagement is safe and secure and has published extensive guidance about how to achieve this. Safeguarders at all levels in our church life should be aware of how to access this information and the key Church guidance is available here: https://www.methodist.org.uk/about-us/coronavirus/safeguarding-considerations/ The current hot topic is how best to enable the safe (and legal) involvement of children and young people signing up for 3Generate, who at this time might have been looking forward to a live face to face event in Birmingham next month. This has led to careful scrutiny of the small print in the terms and conditions of Zoom that relate to the minimum age for accounts and expected levels of parental supervision. Getting the balance right between too much or too little oversight to achieve ‘judicious hovering’ will be a challenge. If your own children or a group from your church are planning to ‘attend’ there will be advice and guidance available so do read with care. It’s always been the case that parents rightly require re-assurance that all due care and attention has been paid to planning children’s and young people’s events, that comprehensive risk assessments have taken place and that there are adequate contingency plans in place in case of a critical incident. What’s somewhat different this time around is that whilst 3Generate organisers can take all the necessary safeguarding procedures and issue advice and guidance, parents can probably no longer plan a quiet weekend for themselves with their offspring safely away. Keeping an eye on the bedroom or wherever the online interaction is to take place means that parents are now very much part of the safeguarding team.

News reports this week confirmed the tragic deaths of four young people in the North East, reportedly as a result of drug use. Last week the news was dominated by the impact of Covid 19 lockdowns on student communities, and speculation that they themselves were the cause of it through partying behaviour. Some young people are beginning to question whether the whole university experience was worth the effort, and whether they are getting value for money as ‘customers’ of higher education. A regular topic for this column is how young people can quickly become unfairly blamed or demonised for the various ills of society and the current campus Covid environment has produced a perfect storm for those who feel that this was all too predictable. Leaving aside Government policy, and the emotion generated by headlines that suggested at one point that students might be prevented from returning home at Christmas, how can we as a church community support young people who arguably find themselves as ‘vulnerable adults’ if only for a short period and in a general sense? Our safeguarding advice and guidance references how we can all be vulnerable at various critical points in our lives although the threshold for statutory intervention will normally preclude referral unless the concern is sustained and places the adult at potential high risk of harm. So being prevented from mixing or partying, spending time in quarantine, receiving food parcels and being taught online may not in themselves seem to be that significant to many but the collective impact on emotional wellbeing may be more profound if the situation continues for some time, and will we see more deadly consequences of over-indulgent behaviour? We pray not. Sadly this column cannot provide an instant menu of practical advice and guidance to anxious parents or educational institutions, but the compelling community narrative ought to be more about support, engagement and understanding the context of young adult aspiration and ambition being temporarily impeded. Child psychology theories stress the importance of strong early attachments to promote wellbeing. If our young people become disconnected with the norms of student life at this early stage, the long term consequences may be a future challenge.

It's difficult to avoid the latest twists and turns of Covid 19 lockdown and testing policies, and the impact this is having on many groups of people, especially students just now. At the time of writing our church re-openings look set to continue but who knows what lurks around the next corner as 2020 continues it’s uncertain journey. My newspaper today had a feature about our new found love of park life, and I don’t mean Blur’s eponymous seminal 1994 hit. It gave an account of a day spent by a reporter on Woodhouse Moor in Leeds, which I recall from my own mid 1970’s university days. This time of year it always seemed to be knee deep in leaves that you kicked through on the way into lectures. The piece celebrated the fact that parks are very democratic places, open to all and great places for exercise and enabling a sense of emotional wellbeing. However it also noted that there can sometimes be conflicts about how various groups use the space and stressed the potential dangers inherent in city centre open spaces at night. Beware of what, or who, might be lurking around the next bend in the path. Safeguarding training often quotes research which describes the very low incidence of what we term ‘stranger abuse’. This is the proverbial person, generally a man, and in my younger days said always to be wearing a dirty raincoat, waiting to jump out of the bushes unexpectedly. The purpose of sharing this in training is both to provide re-assurance about the minimal likelihood of such an event happening, and to remind those attending to pay more attention perhaps to those closer to home or well known in our communities who may present a risk. But of course we know that isolated attacks on single women in particular sadly do happen with some regularity and the impact is at the very least highly traumatic and at worst fatal. Therefore although we might comfort and content ourselves with the statistics, the need for continued vigilance, taking precautions and seeking support for safety measures in public places must remain a high priority as part of our community safeguarding agenda. ‘Stranger abuse’ may not feature highly and, like Covid, the statistics of infections per 100,000 may seem fractional, but the deep and lasting impact of both when they occur must never be taken lightly. We do well to be alert to whatever may lie ahead and take all the necessary preventive and protective measures. Continue though to enjoy park life. At this time of year the Royal parks near where I live echo to the roars of rutting stags. Another group of individuals to avoid.

National Safeguarding Adults Week is from November 16th- 22nd, so this is some early notice. The web-link below can give you a flavour of what it’s about and its wider purpose. One of the key daily themes is concerned with developing safe spaces and so there is a link here with our own Methodist Church agenda that all our churches are safe places for young and old alike. https://www.anncrafttrust.org/events/national-safeguarding-adults-week-monday-16-sunday-22-november-2020/ Despite this quite uncertain time, and wondering what our communities will look and feel like in mid-November, it’s still important to recall that referrals to local authority Adult Safeguarding Services are now considerably higher than they were this time last year. Sadly, domestic abuse, neglect and financial scams are major growth areas, and there has also been a surge in mental health referrals. So National Safeguarding Adults Week could be that hook upon which to hang a (probably) on line event to raise awareness about adult safeguarding in our churches. This column has often noted that churches are pretty well placed to spot concerns about vulnerable adults in local communities, so making sure we polish our twitching antennae and have a good idea about how best to recognise, respond and refer would seem a good plan. The website can supply resources to help you think about such an event as can, of course, our own Methodist Church Safeguarding pages. Look out for more information and ideas in this column over the coming weeks. Local authorities and the NHS will also be aiming to publicise the week and what it aims to achieve so keep an eye out in your local media. In the meantime, stay safe.