Safeguarding and CRB

The Church of England is committed to making the Church a safe place for children and young people, and to nurturing their growth and development. Oxford Diocese accepts the House of Bishops Policy on Child Protection and has taken steps to implement good practice locally.

Stephen Barber is Child Protection Adviser for the Diocese. His duties have three main strands: policy, training and consultancy. Policy work is based on encouraging the implementation of the House of Bishops policy document Protecting All God’s Children. The Diocesan handbook Protecting Children in the Diocese of Oxford supplements this by providing model policies, guidance, forms and other information. 

Consultancy is available on any aspect of child protection. Stephen needs to know about issues or incidents which may need referral to the statutory agencies. He is also involved with making safe arrangements for the management of known sex offenders.

Training is available. Please see the News and Training page.

Stephen does not personally deal with Criminal Records Bureau Disclosures applications but links with appropriate diocesan staff. For parish issues the most appropriate contact is usually Ruth Reavley, Countersignatory for volunteers. Links are also maintained with a range of statutory and voluntary organizations in the field. National developments are checked for relevance to child protection work in the diocese.