The Church of England has commissioned The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) to produce a survey for survivors abused by members of the Anglican Church, with a view to better understanding ways in which the Church can improve its treatment of people who have been abused or are at risk of harm. SCIE is also collaborating with Minister And Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors (MACSAS) in order to raise awareness around the survey.
MACSAS also very helpfully released a statement explaining the deadline for the survey. Whilst the official deadline for the survey to be completed is 30th June 2018 (the Church hopes to be able to report on the findings as early as this Summer), the deadline itself is relatively flexible, and will continue past June so that it can gather as many responses as possible, in order to gain a realistic assessment of a wide range of experiences.
The SCIE website offers the following information:
“We are seeking the views of people with first-hand experience to find out what a good response from the Church should look like. The results of this survey will complement learning from an independent audit by SCIE of safeguarding arrangements in all 42 dioceses across England.
The Church has an obvious responsibility for anyone who has been abused by people who work for the Church, whether clergy, lay officers or volunteers. The Church also has a wider commitment to keep everyone involved in Church activities safe, including people who have been abused outside Church settings and turn to the clergy for pastoral support, and those who feel unsafe for any other reason.
The aim of this survey is to learn from survivors and victims of abuse and neglect, as well as from people who may be particularly vulnerable to harm. We want to help the Church of England to treat people who have been abused, or who need help to keep safe, in a way that works best for those individuals.”
The survey itself is divided up into two parts: the first part is made up of 17 short multiple choice questions which effectively look to gather information about personal experiences of abuse, and offer survivors the chance to add comments too. The second part calls on survivors to share their thoughts and advice about the best ways for the Church to respond to allegations of abuse and those that have been abused or at risk of harm.
SCIE are offering the survey in two formats. You can:
It is hoped that the survey will be shared far and wide, and has already been sent to every Anglican Diocese. Please do share this post with anyone you feel might want to get involved.
Many thanks to Phil Johnson at MACSAS for sharing this survey with us.
