| Child sex abuse prevention resources available for UM churches By Lesley Crosson
General Board of Global Ministries Child sexual abuse by church leaders, in church programs and on church property, is a risk faced by every congregation. United Methodist churches are not exempt. According to Peggy Halsey, a General Board of Global Ministries staff executive for ministries with women, children and families, churches are particularly at risk for child sexual abuse in their facilities because predators have easy access to children and vulnerable adults, with little or no supervision. She added that few settings would seem as ready-made as a local church. The United Methodist Church has resources to assist local churches in making their churches safe for children. A manual, Safe Sanctuaries: Reducing the Risk of Child Abuse in the Church by Joy Thornburg Melton, outlines a process for developing policies and procedures, offers suggestions for training sessions and sample forms, and provides a step-by-step plan for a local church to follow. It can be ordered from Discipleship Resources at (800) 685-4370. The manual grew out of a 1996 United Methodist General Conference resolution entitled Reducing the Risk of Child Sexual Abuse in the Church, which calls upon general agencies and annual conferences to develop prevention curricula and risk-reducing policies and procedures, as well as gbwc_superuserelines and training for church leaders. Several annual conferences have adopted policies and provided training for workers with children in local churches, camps, etc. Training in Safe Sanctuaries was offered in the Baltimore-Washington Conference last year. Church members who believe that such abuse could not happen in their churches simply increase the risk, Halsey said, because that attitude has made churches some of the last child-serving settings in many communities to institute prevention policies and procedures. Halsey also said, The connectional system of the United Methodist Church, especially its itinerant clergy appointed by bishops, puts it at perhaps higher risk for the kind of institutional negligence of which the Catholic hierarchy is being accused than Protestant churches with a more congregational polity and a call system of clergy placement. But that same system also offers the possibility of a connectional approach to prevention and intervention, increasing the likelihood that children will be safe while in the care of the church. | 
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