Safeguarding

We believe that one of our great responsibilities as the Church is to care for and protect those who are vulnerable--both children and adults. This is not something we pursue alone, but with wonderful resources from our diocese. These resources include shared safety policies across all the churches of our diocese; a diocesan Safety Coordinator; and a partnership with other dioceses, called ACNA West, that includes a Misconduct Office and third-party Intake Officer who receives concerns or reports of misconduct or abuse.

Our Policies for protecting children and adults are contained in two documents that we encourage you to view below.

1. The Ministry Worker Handbook - This contains the policies that all of our ministry workers—whether volunteer, staff, or clergy—need to know and follow.
2. The Policy for the Protection of Children and Adults - This contains additional policies that only some ministry workers need to know. All supervisors and clergy must read and follow this policy.

Any person--staff or volunteer--who works with children and vulnerable adults goes through a robust screening process and follow-up training.

Here are some of the policies and procedures our leaders and volunteers follow:

• All volunteers at Church of the Incarnation must attend Incarnation for a minimum of six months before being eligible to serve in positions providing access to or involving interaction with minors. 
• All volunteers working with minors must pass a background check followed by a personal interview. 
• All volunteers working with minors must complete online training as they join our teams and be renewed every three years to learn about proper safety and reporting policies and procedures.

If you have a concern about misconduct at Incarnation or in any of our diocesan churches, please follow this link to report it. If you see something, please say something. The independent Intake Officer is ready and able to receive any concern or complaint from any person about any person (clergy, diocesan or church staff, or lay leader) in any of our churches. The initial information you provide will only be received by the Intake Officer.