Volunteers working with children
All people wishing to work with children under 18 in the CRCA must undergo the Volunteer Application/Approval Process prior to commencing in such a role. This also applies to people raised in the Church as children and then commence working with children as adults. This is a legal requirement in every State in Australia.
Best practice for appointing people in volunteer roles working with children under 18 years is to only appoint people who have been in the congregation or organisation for more than a year, or have been known by the leadership for 12 months or more. By adhering to this practice congregations and organisations reduce vulnerability to being targeted by potential abusers as providing an avenue to groom and access potential victims. The SCU highly recommends that all CRCA congregations and organisations embrace this practice as the standard approach to appointing volunteers in roles working with children under 18.
From time to time some congregations have visiting mission or ministry teams. These teams may come from another CRCA congregation or from another Christian organisation entirely. For CRCA congregational teams there is no need to fulfil any extra Safe Church requirements. For teams from Christian organisations outside the CRCA there are Safe Church requirements which must be met. Contact the SCU for further details and to ensure your congregation is covered in such an instance.