Catharina Siraa is the Safeguarding Advisor at the Baptist National Support Centre.
7 – 13 September 2026 is Child Safeguarding Week.
Children take part in many different activities within our churches, including worship services, children's ministry programmes, youth groups, camps, mentoring relationships, and community initiatives. Children depend on the adults around them to act appropriately, make good decisions and help protect them from harm. Parents and caregivers place trust in churches when their children spend time in our spaces. Child Safeguarding Week challenges all organisations working with children to demonstrate how they are actively safeguarding those in their care.
This year communities across Aotearoa New Zealand to pause and ask an important question: "How safe are the places our children go?" This year's campaign encourages parents, caregivers, volunteers, leaders, and organisations to think intentionally about the environments we create for children and young people. Safe places are built through an intentional and proactive commitment to put children’s wellbeing and safety at the heart of everything we do.
Safe organisations welcome questions about safeguarding and can clearly explain what they have in place to keep children safe.
Questions parents and caregivers could ask their church include:
- Are staff and volunteers police vetted, safety checked and trained in safeguarding and child protection?
- Is there a child protection policy, and how can I access it?
- Is there a code of conduct for staff and volunteers?
- Do children have a way to input into organisation decisions?
- How do parents or children lay complaints or raise concerns?
This week, take time to think about how your church would answer these questions. Perhaps you could use the safeguarding culture checklist to review where you are at and where you might need to strengthen some of your systems.
As Baptist churches, safeguarding resonates deeply with our calling. Jesus consistently welcomed children, valued them, and placed them at the centre of the community of faith. We have both a spiritual and practical responsibility to ensure that children and young people in our spaces are protected, listened to, respected, and able to participate safely in church life. Safeguarding is not simply about compliance or policies. It is about creating a culture where every child knows they are valued and where all adults understand their responsibility to keep children safe.
We encourage churches, ministry leaders, volunteers, parents, and caregivers to explore the free Child Safeguarding Week resources and consider how they can be used in your local context. Together, we can help ensure that our churches are places where children are welcomed, protected, valued, and able to grow in faith with confidence and security.
Further information and resources are available at childsafeguardingweek.org.nz
