The Uniting Church in Australia is committed to providing safe places where people are cared for, nurtured and sustained. The Uniting Church dedicates itself to the care, protection and safety of all people relating to its congregations, agencies and schools.

Similarly Uniting Church Western Australia is entrusted to provide a safe environment for all people to encounter God, to deepen relationships and grow in faith. We believe that every person is precious to God and that in following Jesus’ example we are called to care for all people, especially those who are vulnerable. The Gospel also directs us to listen to and learn from children. (National Child Safe Policy Framework v2 March 2017).
Our duty of care is the moral and legal responsibility we have to ensure the safety of those in our care. Discharging our duty of care means that we think through what is safe and/or risky, then put plans in place to ensure that we act safely.

Quite simply this means: doing all we can do to ensure that NO harm and/or distress has been caused.

People expect our churches to be a safe place – you TRUST us and we should honour that.

As such, we commit to being a community which:

• provides and maintains a welcoming and safe environment
• provides clear and appropriate duty of care guidelines
• offers suitable and well-equipped leadership
• provides a level of resourcing that reflects the value of all people
• addresses any complaints or allegations of abuse appropriately

The WA Synod Safe Church Policy reflects the commitment statements outlined above to protect vulnerable people, provide safe leaders and ensure safe environments, ministry and programs run under the banner of the Uniting Church. We recommend that each congregation, faith community, congregational community service, school, college and caring agency downloads a copy of the Safe Church Policy and commits to this Policy.

In response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and taking into account developments in other Synods, the Synod of WA established new requirements in terms of Professional Standards training for all those in active ministry which took effect from 1 January 2017. To find out more, click here. 

Safe Church Awareness Training Workshops are offered across WA throughout the year to help all our church members understand their responsibilities and develop policies and practices that create safety in their church.

If you need assistance or have any questions, please contact:

Cindy Gorton
Culture of Safety Executive Officer
Phone: 9260 9805
Email: cindy.gorton@wa.uca.org.au