Volunteers serving in the church
Volunteers are very important in sustaining the life and ministry of the church. It is critical, however, that volunteers abide by Safe Church practice to ensure a safe ministry environment, especially for children. This page provides important information relating to appointing volunteers in the PCV.
Volunteers working with Adults
Sessions oversee the selection and appointment of suitable volunteers to work with adults in the PCV. Sessions use a variety of screening methods to ensure only suitable volunteers are appointed into adult ministry roles, including but not limited to:
Only appointing members and adherents to these volunteer roles
Reference checks
Seeking recommendations for appropriate individuals to work in particular adult ministries
Interviewing potential volunteers
Police checks and/or Working With Children Checks
The creation of role descriptions for roles working with adults
Ministry questionnaires for completion by potential volunteers
Some Sessions choose to use the Volunteer Approval Process (which applies to all volunteers seeking to work with children in the PCV) as the process for screening volunteers for adult ministries
Volunteers working with children
All people wishing to work with children under 18 in the PCV must undergo the Volunteer 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 under the Victorian Child Safe Standards.
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. 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 PCV 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 PCV congregation or from another Christian organisation entirely. For PCV congregational teams there is no need to fulfil any extra Safe Church requirements. For teams from Christian organisations outside the PCV there are Safe Church requirements which must be met. Contact the SCU for further details and to ensure your congregation is prepared in such an instance.
Volunteer Approval Process
The following process must be followed when a new person volunteers to work with children under 18 years of age in the PCV in either a congregation or organisation OR where a person has been a leader in the church in a role that did not involve direct children’s ministry:
STEP 1:
A person wishes to join a ministry that works with children under the age of 18 years within a PCV congregation or organisation.
STEP 2:
The person must:
Complete and sign the ‘Initial Registration with the SCU & Role Description’ form, provide proof of identification and also provide contact details of two referees. Referees should ideally be people who have known the person for a significant amount of time (years rather than months) and who are not relatives.
Complete an application for the Victorian Working with Children Check or provide proof of holding a current Victorian Working with Children Check.
Agree to attend Safe Church Basic Training
See the Supporting Material section below for links to the required forms.
STEP 3:
It is the responsibility of the Safe Church Representative of the congregation or organisation to
contact the referees and complete the ‘Confidential Record of Reference Checks’ form
document sighting proof of photographic identification, such as a current driver’s license
forward copies of the forms to the SCU – copies must be kept by the Safe Church Representative of the congregation/organisation
The Safe Church Representative must treat as strictly confidential all applications and records of contacts with referees. Such information may only be accessed by the Safe Church Representative, the Session (if necessary) and the SCU. The information should be marked “confidential” and all personnel files should be kept in a secure facility (for both electronic and paper records) for purposes of confidentiality. Access is limited to those so authorised, and the applicant, who may view only their own file.
STEP 4:
Upon receiving the forms the applicant is screened. If through screening the applicant is approved the person is then registered with the SCU database of persons who work with children under 18 in the PCV. The SCU notifies the Safe Church Representative of the congregation/organisation of the approval. The person must attend Safe Church Basic Training within the first 12 months of being approved.
If the applicant is not approved by the SCU OR fails to secure a Victorian Working with Children Check the person cannot minister or work with children under 18 in any PCV congregation or organisation. A person who has applied for a Victorian Working with Children Check must not commence in their role until the approval and number has arrived and been communicated to the local church and SCU (via the Safe Church Representative). The SCU notifies the Safe Church Representative of the congregation/organisation if the person is not approved.
questions to ask referees
When completing the "Conversation summary" section of the Confidential Record of Reference Checks Form, please ask the following questions to each referee:
Are you related to the applicant or the other referee? (If the person answers yes, you cannot proceed with this referee check – Another referee needs to be obtained from the applicant)
In what capacity have you known the applicant and for what length of time?
How would you describe the applicant’s ability, reliability and their character in regard to working with children?
Are there any physical, mental or spiritual concerns you may have with the applicant? [These concerns do not necessarily preclude an applicant from working with children]
Do you have any reasons to believe that the applicant is not suitable to work with children and if so what are they?
Is there anything else you would like to say in regard to this applicant?
Always inform the referee that the information supplied by them will only be used for assessment of the applicant under the PCV Volunteer Approval Process and remains strictly confidential.
volunteer approval process forms
Remember: to complete the process above, a series of forms are to be completed and forwarded to the SCU when a new person applies to work with children 18. These forms should be collected and forwarded by the congregation/organisation not the individual applying to work with children.
These forms are accessible via the links below:
Exemption for Police volunteering in the PCV
Under Victorian legislation police are exempt from requiring a Working with Children Check. Current serving police are exempt from requiring a Working with Children Check within the PCV upon providing proof of their employment. They are however required to complete all other steps in the Volunteer Approval Process.
If a police member is either suspended or dismissed from their employment they must inform their congregation or church organisation about this. This must take place to comply with sections 31 and 31A of the Working with Children Act Victoria (2005) (the Act) - failure to do so is in breach of the Act. If a person’s employment as a serving police member ceases, they must apply for a check and discontinue in their role with the congregation or organisation while awaiting approval in the form of a current Working with Children Check.
VIT REGISTERED TEACHERS AND THE WORKING WITH CHILDREN CHECK
In September 2019 the Victorian Government and the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) introduced a new requirement whereby people holding VIT Registration must also link their VIT Registration number to organisations outside of their employment, where they work with children - e.g. teachers who are also Youth Group leaders at their church.
VIT Registration holders are henceforth required to link the PCV to their VIT Registration - see the information at the links below for further detail and in order to action this:
Victorian Institute of Teaching information
Victorian Government information
Adding the local church to an existing or new Working with Children Check
A person applying to work with children must add the congregation in which they are applying to volunteer in to their WWC Check card record. This is done by visiting the Victorian Working with Children Check website and selecting 'Update my details' on the home page.
Adding the Presbyterian Church of Victoria to an existing Working With Children Check
A person applying to work with children must also add the denomination of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria to their WWC Check card record. This is done by visiting the Victorian Working with Children Check website and selecting 'Update my details' on the home page.
The details for listing the Presbyterian Church of Victoria on a WWC Check are:
Presbyterian Church of Victoria
Mezzanine, 156 Collins Street
Melbourne 3000
Phone 03 9650 9311
PCV safe church transfer registration form
Sometimes a person moves from one PCV church to another and seeks to work with children in the new church. When this occurs the Safe Church Representative in the new church is to give the person a copy of the PCV Safe Church Transfer Registration Form to complete and return to the Safe Church Representative.
The Safe Church Representative then physically checks the person's WWCC card matches what is written on the form and forwards this form via email or post to the SCU for completion of the transfer, keeping a copy for their records.
When the Safe Church Representative receives confirmation of the transfer completion from SCU, the Safe Church Representative updates the church Working With Children Check records, advises the person that the transfer is complete and also advises the relevant ministry leaders that the person can now commence working with children in their new church.
Privacy
All VAP and transfer documentation must be kept securely to ensure privacy for the applicant. Secure storage entails keeping the VAP and transfer documentation in a secure facility (for both electronic and paper records) that can only be accessed by the Safe Church Representative and one other nominated person (for example, the Session Clerk).