For my friends who don't have a clue WHAT hat I'm wearing when they talk to me.
Liz Hall has a problem, she knows the policy and that means she is in a state of compromise the whole time.
As the DCO she sits in her Ivory Tower providing page and paragraph references to folks who actually can't believe what they have been told or what they have heard, and also a little bit of advice here and there....while trying desparately NOT to undermine the policy, as it shapes the world in which she works.
As the Children's Ministry Team Leader, she is trying to apply this policy to her Corps situation and finding it tough ( she's not alone here) so is considering tweaking it here and there, to be best fit....but her integrity is in danger. How can she say one thing from the safety of The Ivory Tower, but advocate doing another because it's what easiest for her, her team, people that support, and those that provide children and young people who attend the programme...parents, and the wider Corps.
As the Parent, she doesn't have a clue what's going on really. She isn't involved in high level conversations with the Youth Team. I suppose she could be, but she can't have her finger in
all the pies - because she doesn't have enough fingers, but mainly because she likes pies and it would be a crime to stick your finger in one and not eat it and she's a bit overweight as it is.
HOWEVER she is concerned for the spiritual development of her kids and their friends, and she sometimes wonders why they don't want to be 'at the Army'. She wonders why some things that used to happen when she was a kid, don't happen any more and what might replace them.
While this might not be the best platform for my heartfelt feelings here comes my heartfelt feeling.
The SA Child Protection Policy has been in place for a really long time, but still issues arise around the safety of kids in churches, so it has been revised and the training is now longer ambiguous nor does in rely on people searching for implied meaning - it tells us what to do and how to do it.
For safety read not just physical, but emotional and spiritual too.YES there's red tape and YES the cynics would say that it is actually only there to protect the SA, but here's what I believe the benefits are:
It means that we now have to think harder about what we provide for our children and young people and the people that work with them and it demands the best. It means that we have to consider recruiting more and better qualified human resources to support them and forces us to think and hopefully have constructive discussions about the way forward. It invites parents to have their say, it invites us to communicate better with parents.It empowers the children and young people and YES it makes us feel irritated and uncomfortable because the things that used to 'just happen' can't anymore, without more planning and provision.
It starts a conversation that might never have happened 'last year'.
On the face of it, it appears to say YOU CAN'T , and in a world where time is an issue, sometimes we may not get further than that but if Churches and Corps want to invest in their young people then this policy could be the tool to materially get us to start doing that, when looking through the sieve of common sence and sometimes under the banner of 'working towards....'
This blog does may not necesserily represent the opinion of The Salvation Army, but I would hope it comes close and it's what I think.
