Resources for safe ministry

These resources relate to Safe Church policy, procedure and practice and include downloadable documents for use within congregations and organisations. Additional contacts and services for those seeking help with Safe Church related issues are also linked from this page. The PCV Safe Church Youtube Channel also hosts Basic Training videos, the Online Refresher Course video and Safe Church Representative Help videos.

In Victoria, a child is a person who is under 18 years of age. Where the words “child” or “children” are used in this website, and in all PCV Safe Church materials, these words include all people who are under 18 years of age in the PCV, or accessing services and ministries provided by the PCV.

The following resources are available:

Government Compliance Information

Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse by People in Religious Ministry

To see the relevant information about mandatory reporting go here

Working With Children Check legislation

  • To see the PCV Working With Children Check information go here

  • To check if an individual's Working With Children Check is valid go here

VIT Registration - Working With Children Check Requirements

VIT Registration holders are required to link the PCV to their VIT Registration. Please add the PCV as a linked organisation, in addition to the local church, using the following details:

Presbyterian Church of Victoria 156 Collins Street Melbourne VIC 3000

Phone 03 9650 9311

Email: scu.compliance@pcv.org.au

See the information at the links below for further detail and in order to action this:

Victorian Institute of Teaching information

Victorian Government information

'Betrayal of Trust' Laws

All PCV personnel aged 18 and over must familiarise themselves and act in accordance with these laws.  

'Failure to Protect' 

'Failure to Disclose'

'Grooming' 

Wrongs Amendment (Organisational Child Abuse) Act 2017 (VIC)

A statutory duty of care has been created under the Wrongs Amendment (Organisational Child Abuse) Act 2017 (see Part XIII of Wrongs Act 1958) to ensure there is a clear legal duty placed on organisations to take reasonable steps to minimise the risk of child abuse, perpetrated by organisational representatives. This means a child abuse survivor (plaintiff) will have a clear cause of action when commencing legal proceedings against an organisation for the sexual and/or physical abuse of a child. It is then up to the organisation to prove that it took reasonable precautions to prevent the abuse. See here for more information.

The Victorian Child Safe Standards

All organisations in Victoria that work with children must comply with the Victorian Child Safe Standards. 

The Victorian Reportable Conduct Scheme

The PCV must comply with the Victorian Reportable Conduct Scheme.

Child Safe Organisations - Risk Assessment

Under the Child Safe Standards organisations with children must complete risk assessment for child abuse and child safety.

The Safe Church Unit has completed a risk assessment for the risk of child abuse within the denomination as a whole, based on the risk management and mitigations undertaken via the work of the Safe Church Unit at the denominational level. Contact the Safe Church Unit for further information about this.

General information about risk assessment is found here. The risk assessment tool for Sessions of PCV churches, to undertake a child safety risk assessment within the local church children’s ministries, is available here. A specific activity child safety risk assessment - for example, for a Youth Group off-site activity or a camp is available here.

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Posters - children & families