The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide from GRACE

About the Book:

Churches have always sought to be a safe haven for children and families, but many today are dealing with the tragic reality of child sexual abuse.

This handbook, authored and edited by a multidisciplinary team of child abuse experts, is designed for use by a group that will be formulating policies and procedures to protect children and deal with possible child abuse in their ministry, school, and/or church. Working through this book will assist churches and ministries to assess their current child abuse polices and then

guide them through each step they need to take to address the safety of children under their care. It will cover vitally important topics including:

-Protecting the children in a Christian environment from child abuse
-The warning signs of child abuse
-Crafting and implement a child protection policy
-Responding to abuse allegations
-Caring for victims of child abuse
-The legal implications and requirements for churches and Christian ministries

Written by a GRACE team with multi-disciplinary knowledge, headed by Boz Tchividjian, a lawyer and former child abuse prosecutor, this handbook will be an invaluable resource to Christians who are seeking to educate themselves and others about child abuse and how to best protect the little ones under their care.

My Review:

Having been in a church where child sexual abuse happened because the proper precautions were not in place, I know the need for good policy and adequate implementation. The organization behind this book wants to empower Christian communities to recognize, prevent, and respond to child abuse.

This book is a comprehensive guide for any church needing to write a Child Protection Policy. A foundation is given, helping readers to understand the dynamics of child abuse. Abuse is defined. How to spot behavior that indicates abuse is given. The impact of abuse is explored. They cover how to ensure child safety when hiring staff and recruiting volunteers. The community and its practices are considered.

Along with the informative text are questions to answer with a view to writing policy. Samples of various policies are given too.

After the abuse in my church, we went through the long and difficult process of writing and implementing policy protecting children. I wish we'd had this book. It would have made the process easier and I think the result would have been a better document.

I highly recommend this book to Christian organizations who want to protect their children from abuse. This book gives clear understanding of the need for policy, how to draft the policy, and how to implement it.

You can purchase a copy here.

I am taking part in a blog tour of this book and you can read other reviews here.

My rating: 5/5 stars.

G.R.A.C.E (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) is a nonprofit organization made up of highly trained, experienced multidisciplinary professionals who seek to educate and empower the Christian community to identify, confront, and respond to the sin of child abuse. You can find out more about G.R.A.C.E. at http://www.netgrace.org/.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book through Litfuse. My review comments are independent and honest. The rest of the copy of this post was provided by Litfuse.