Child Protection

Church serious about child protection

It's no wonder the Revd Pearl Luxon was appointed to the joint post of Safeguarding Adviser (child and adult protection) for the Methodist Church of Great Britain and the Church of England. Her credentials for overseeing the churches' policy on child protection are impeccable.

With both theology and social work qualifications, she worked in the probation service for 13 years and is also an ordained Methodist minister. For the last three years, she has had the child protection role for the Methodist church while also running the Church's Agency for Safeguarding (CAS) – a registered body serving 11 denominations dealing with disclosures for the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB).

Pearl took up her position in September – the first national joint post created by the two Churches since the historic Anglican-Methodist Covenant was signed in November 2003. “Creating this post allows the two churches to develop one voice on this issue,” she says. “It shows the seriousness with which both Churches take child protection.” She liaises with government, police, probation service and charities to ensure that the churches are up to date with legislation and best practice in protecting children, young people and vulnerable adults.

Pearl took on the job, she says, because "I felt I could be used in this area because of my background and expertise. It felt like very much the right place to be." She continues, "In the same way that I have a heart for safeguarding issues I still have a heart for the local church and I think that's the right balance." While her new job is full time, she continues to take services in the Methodist Harrow circuit in north west London.

Pearl’s ambition is to "develop understanding of safeguarding as an important topic for the church both in pastoral and theological terms." For instance, she says, it’s important to acknowledge that "Every church statistically is likely to have a survivor of child sexual abuse in their congregation." She hopes that "when somebody who has survived sexual abuse as a child sees the church putting the right things in place, then they will feel encouraged to be part of the church. My fear is that they are often on the margins, or they feel they don't belong."

Revd Pearl Luxon

Church policies, including recently published guidance on working with vulnerable people, can be found at: www.cofe.anglican.org/info/papers/protectingchildren.pdf

www.cofe.anglican.org/info/papers/promotingasafechurch.pdf

Responding to Domestic Abuse: Guidelines for those with pastoral responsibility encourages parishes and clergy to take domestic abuse seriously and to be honest and open about its occurrence. It encourages the condemnation of domestic abuse and the support of those who suffer domestic abuse, providing introductory guidelines for adopting good practice and working in partnership with other agencies.

www.cofe.anglican.org/info/papers/domesticabuse.pdf