How to help protect children in your church’s care
It’s a sad reality that child sexual abuse is still a major issue in our country — and church environments are no exception. According to MinistrySafe, an organization that helps churches reduce the risk of child sexual abuse, there are more than 60 million sexual abuse survivors in the United States and one out of five Americans was sexually abused before age 18.
Assistant Vice President
Risk Control
Church Mutual Insurance Company, S.I.
Church Mutual Insurance Company, S.I., has seen firsthand just how common sexual abuse is in congregations: Over the last two years, 64% of sexual misconduct claims reported to Church Mutual came from religious organizations.
There’s no question, every congregation needs to implement policies and procedures to protect both children and adults. As an insurance provider, Church Mutual has the ability to influence change within insured churches in a variety of ways to help combat this rising issue.
Performing risk assessments
The best way to prevent abuse is to create an atmosphere at your church that makes it very difficult to harm children. Church Mutual encourages thorough review and assessment of child protection policies within churches to ensure proper child safety standards are in place. One way we do this is through our virtual sexual abuse prevention assessment. [ https://p.widencdn.net/rnwo2n/CM0069-2020-05-RC-Sexual-Abuse-Assessment ] This assessment allows customers to evaluate the preventative measures they have in place and identify areas that need improvement.
Our evaluation of child safety standards begins right from the start when insuring a church. When you become a Church Mutual customer, current child protection policies are submitted for review. We also have risk specialists available to work with you to make sure you have the right policies and procedures in place.
Church Mutual’s Risk Control staff complete MinistrySafe training as well, which means they have a special expertise in preventing child sexual abuse that they can pass on to customers. Not only do they encourage congregations to comply with any applicable laws, but they also urge them to implement practices that go beyond those laws, such as the two-adult rule which encourages at least two non-related adults be present when working with children.
Increasing awareness
As part of our dedication to proactive risk management, Church Mutual actively educates our customers on the risks of child sexual abuse through a variety of informative resources. Church Mutual is continually offering information about child sexual abuse to our customers in the form of articles, blog posts and risk alerts. The main goal of these communications is to help our customers better understand the risks associated with child sexual abuse, while also promoting the adoption of proper safety protocols.
Additionally, our claim trends are analyzed on a monthly basis to identify any patterns in sexual misconduct claims to which we can alert our customers. Our goal is to keep customers aware of the risk and any concerns so that problems can be addressed before they happen.
Collaborating with other organizations
While Church Mutual has gained substantial expertise in the area of child protection throughout the years, we recognize the value of collaboration. Church Mutual has partnered with MinistrySafe/Abuse Prevention Systems to provide our customers with easy and discounted access to child abuse prevention training resources and documentation. By encouraging all child-serving organizations we insure to adopt the MinistrySafe system, Church Mutual continues to show our dedication to child protection.
In addition to training, running background checks on any volunteer or staff member who might be working with children is an important part of keeping a congregation safe for children. Church Mutual has partners who provide customers easy and discounted access to background checks so churches can better know who they’re hiring.
We also offer sample forms from various sources for items such as employee applications and reference checks. This is all done in an effort to encourage thorough screening of child-facing employees.
Focus on prevention
By conducting thorough risk assessments, raising awareness, and fostering partnerships with like-minded organizations, Church Mutual demonstrates our dedication to child safety and ongoing efforts to drive positive change among our customers. Sexual abuse prevention should be a primary concern within your congregation, and Church Mutual is here to help address it.
Eric Spacek has 18 years of experience in risk control in the property and casualty insurance industry and, before that, practiced law for 11 years defending organizations against liability and injury lawsuits. Eric is also a former church business administrator.
