The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide for Churches and Ministries

by Basyle Tchividjian, Shira M. Berkovits

Churches are supposed to be a safe haven, but many deal with the tragic reality of child sexual abuse. This guide, supported by a multidisciplinary team of child abuse experts, helps churches and faith communities formulate policies and procedures to protect children and address possible abuse in their ministries.

Genres: Christian

310 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

Tchividjian is the grandchild of Reverend Billy Graham & Ruth Bell Graham & the son of Gigi Graham Tchividjian.

Before joining the faculty of Liberty University School of Law, Basyle Tchividjian was a partner in Landis Graham French, P.A., which is one of the oldest law firms in Florida. His practice focused primarily in the areas of labor and employment law and civil litigation for damages associated with child sexual abuse. He has also been a frequent lecturer regarding the various issues associated with Title VII and state anti-discrimination statutes.

From 1994 until 2001, Tchividjian was an Assistant State Attorney for Florida’s 7th Judicial Circuit. During his tenure as a prosecutor, he created the sexual crimes division of the Office of State Attorney and was personally responsible for the prosecution of hundreds of cases involving child sexual abuse. Tchividjian was a frequent lecturer for the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association and the Florida Conference on Child Abuse.

Tchividjian is a founding member and executive director of GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment). The purpose of GRACE is to educate and equip the evangelical Church to correctly respond to sexual abuse disclosures and to train the Church in how to minimize the opportunities for abuse to occur within its environment. Tchividjian speaks extensively on this subject at various Christian conferences and denominational gatherings. He has also appeared numerous times on television to discuss the work and ministry of GRACE. In 2006, Tchividjian was a contributor to the video series Caring for Kids God’s Way produced by the American Association of Christian Counselors.

For the 10 years prior to joining the faculty at Liberty, Tchividjian was an adjunct faculty member with the Rinker School of Business at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida and Celebration, Florida.

Tchividjian is a member of the Florida Bar Association and is admitted to practice in the State of Florida and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Children Safeguarding Policy Guide for Churches and Ministries, is one of the hardest books you will ever read. Now this is not a criticism of the book nor of the authors themselves. No, this book was hard to read because it opens up a topic that, as shepherds of God’s flock, we know about yet pretend to not affect us. Therefore when I say it is the hardest book i have ever read i am referring to the gut-wrenching topic of child abuse. For it prepares you and your church/ministry to write the saddest, yet most necessary document, for your children and youth ministries. Child abuse is rampant in your area, if you don’t believe me just check your local registered sex offender website, yet these are only some of the people you are protecting your flock from, for worse yet are the unregistered pedophiles who may be worshiping in your church, sitting in the pew next to you. The reason I have stated in this review are not to scare you but to place a sense of urgency and need to protect our little children from abuse.

As a minister of children, youth, and families as well as having served at a variety of churches I have put together my fair share of child protection policies. I wish this resource had been available in those times. This book helps your ministry team put together a policy that is not only through but understandable and legally binding. The Children Safeguarding Policy Guide, is written by two people, who are on the forefront of child safety in churches and ministries, Boz Tchividjian and Shira M. Berkovits who are both lawyers (Tchividjian formally in Child Abuse and Berkovits in Youth Advocacy) who know child protection from a church and legal standpoint. This is a book that will show you the need as well as how to implement a child protection policy. I highly recommend this book to sessions and church boards who would put such a policy in place, yet the information in the book should be known by all in the church.

I received this work from New Growth Press for the purposes of review, yet the views expressed are my own, they did not need to be positive.

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Title: Child Safeguarding Policy Guide for Churches and Ministries

Author: Basyle Tchividjian and Shira Berkovits

ISBN: 978-1945270055



Landing Page: http://stores.newgrowthpress.com/chil...

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Child-Safeguar...

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[Sherry Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Child Safeguaring Policy Guide is a must read for anyone in ministry.
If your a parent don't discount this book
Because you need to 'make sure' that your child care, preschool, day school or even church ministry is taking steps to insure the safety of your child.
I wish that I had this book a few years ago when I founded a non-profit ministry for at-risk and incarcerated teens. After working in full-time ministry I spent a few years working in a pre-school. Although
Our state mandates continuing education training and the school where I worked made great strides to provide adequate training I feel like I learned alot from this book.

In hindsight I have absorbed much needed knowledge between the pages of this book.
This book has been endorsed by many professionals in ministry as well as secular programs.
Victor Vieth the director of a Child Protection Training Center.
Reknowed author Mary DeMuth (Author of over 30 books including Finding Hope and Healing after Sexual Abuse.
And Anne Graham Lotz to name a few.
The topics in the book include:
Defining Abuse, Indicators, Impact, Sexual Behaviors,
Routine Protective Measures and many more.
This is a book filled with knowledge and information. It is set up so that management of children's programs can use the resources to manage programs and to train workers.
The Child Safeguarding Policy is a must read for anyone working with children. Especially administrators.
Parents check this one out too for the valuable information within these pages.
I received a complimentary copy from Litfuse.

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book with a ton of practical use. And that really is what the book goes for: each chapter talks about specific issues in the realm of sexual abuse and child safety, and then ends with an outline with blank spaces for you and your organization to fill out. Most impressively though is the amount of detail in the outlining. I can't think of anything that they don't speak to. They cover how to protect your organization in how you run your nurseries or daycares, the interview process for potential employees, recognizing abuse/neglect, and how to handle reports and policy violations, among other things.

The best thing about the book is that when you're done reading, it is designed to have most of a sexual abuse policy made up for you, with you only needing to fill in the blanks and make specific decisions for your organization. Given that this is written by one of the most respected child abuse prosecutors in the nation, with a strong theology for those looking at this for a church, I can't imagine what a better book would look like.

[Jon Vos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really important for churches to get child protection policies in place. Children are a heritage from the Lord!

[Lydia Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why I Choose this Book:

I work with kids in our church some, and I want to continue working with kids in different venues as a writer, therefore I thought it would be helpful to learn how to respond correctly if I ever come across an instance of abuse.

What I Thought about this Book:

It’s not light reading. By the time the book arrived I was having second guesses about if it would really be worthwhile enough for me to read it compared to how much sadness the book was going to contain. It makes me so sad to think of how many kids have suffered, and that the world has so many horrible people that books like these actually need to be written.

In the end I decided to skim quite a bit of this book – I wanted to get the gist of the information, but in the position I’m currently in I didn’t need to have details on what different kinds of child abuse looks likes.

This book contained a lot of good, good information regarding how to make churches and ministries places of safety for children. Through the pages you can learn what signs of abuse are, what to do if you find out a child is being abused, and how to keep your church safe. This includes what to look for in volunteers and staff, and also how to keep your church building itself a place of safety and openness.

I was amazed at how thorough this book was. The point of the book is to help churches and ministries know how to write a good safeguarding policy, and then put it into place in everyday life. At the end of each chapter there were examples of what the wording could look like in an offical policy. There were also a lot of sample pages – samples for questions to ask potential staff, samples of letters to write while working on forming a committee to put the policy into place, and the list goes on.

Conclusion:

Although this book wasn’t fun to read, and it contained a lot of sadness, it was also enlightening and despite the skimming, I learned from it. Overall I’m thankful I read the book, although I don’t really recommend it to people who aren’t actively helping lead a church or ministry. For the intended audience though? Yes, I would recommend it.

Rating:

I’m giving The Child Safeguarding 5 out of 5 stars, and 10 out of 10.

*I received this book from Litfuse in exchange for a review

[The Book Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has worked in may churches children programs this book was something I believed I really could benefit from. I thought it would be helpful to learn how to respond correctly if I ever come across an instance of abuse. This is a tough subject for anyone, but it is a very important reading for all.

This isn't the normal light reading I have on this blog. I have to admit that it took me a few days to actually pick this book up. I was nervous about reading it, I was scared of the sadness this book might contain. This is a topic that hits pretty close to home for me, as a victim of child abuse myself. It angers and breaks my heart thinking about how many kids have suffered.

This book is full of good information for churches and missions on how to keep children in their care safe. There are many pages that will teach you about the signs of abuse, how to spot, and what do to if you suspect a child is being abused. It also includes some information on how to keep the church safe, which includes details on how to screen employees and volunteers.

This is a smaller book, but it really thorough and packed with details. They help you write a positive and efficient safegaurding policy. How to apply that policy to everyday. At the end their are examples on how to word an official policy. I feel like this would be a benefit to smaller churches. There were also lots of forms, letters, and interview questions. This book has more information than you could have ever asked for.

All in all this book is great for its intended audience. Which is church staff and missionaries. I am very thankful I read it but wouldn't recommend it for just random readers.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher and Litfuse in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

[Morgan Farr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I would give The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide for Churches and Ministries by Basyle Tchividjian and Shira M. Berkovits a solid B+ rating. It is a great book that all ministries should have on their shelves. The regular, everyday Christian might not find it useful in daily life; however, as a mother of two young boys I probably don't have to state the fact that safety is a high priority for our family. Being a military family means moving often. When we move to a new duty station we have to start all over in finding a church, a babysitter, and friends that we are comfortable having our children be around on a regular basis. I have to say that protecting my children is often at the forefront of my mind especially when we are at a new duty station trying to find a new church. I know that for myself (as well as many other military families) it would ease my mind a great deal to know that these churches had a plan in place to prevent abuse issues from happening and a procedure for what to do in the absolutely horrific instance that it does happen. I would feel much more comfortable at a church that used The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide for Churches and Ministries by Basyle Tchividjian and Shira M. Berkovits as a guide post for their ministries.

[Cheryl Baranski · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Child Safeguarding Policy for Churches and Ministries. A great book for Churches and your groups to use. Great resource to have on hand for anyone that is working with children or youth. Be sure to get a copy for your church today. 4 stars!

[Daniel Kleven · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Child Safeguarding Policy Guide should be required reading for every pastor, church worker, and seminarian" - Frank James, President, Biblical Theological Seminary

"TCSPG is now the standard for any ministry desiring to create safe and protected environments where the precious souls of children can flourish" - Jimmy Melado, President of Compassion International

"TCSPG is the first book that provides the A to Z of developing comprehensive child protection policies." - Diane Langberg

I agree. This book is an excellent resource and an absolutely MUST READ (and implement) for anyone in any ministry that involves children (churches, ministries, missions organizations, youth camps, etc, etc.). The book simultaneously educates you about abuse, abusers, the abused, and the tendencies within organizations *not* to do the right thing. Having clear policies in writing beforehand helps you do the right thing when emotions are high and situations seem uncertain. The book literally walks you through creating such a policy for your ministry.

As a bonus, the footnotes are an entry into a large number of helpful resources in the field of studies surrounding child abuse.

Highly, highly recommend.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and thorough guide for churches seeking to implement strong child safety policies. Not particularly light or pleasant reading, of course, but since my job includes maintaining safety policies for my church I can see myself referencing this book frequently. I wish I didn’t have to think about this — but since I do, I’m grateful for the obvious care that went into this book.

[Paul Herriott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a manual type book, not the kind that you read unless you are seeking answers to these questions. There are plenty of helpful examples and diagrams for churches to follow. Definitely not a deep read, but lots of technical language.

[Sam Sinclair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sobering and practical.

[Carson Knauff · Rating 5 out of 5]

An essential book for all churches to read and implement.

[Cecily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This resource really goes above and beyond by providing a lot of sample files/forms and wording for safety policies.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful book once you’re ready to create a full policy and implement it. A better book to convince you you need a policy is “On Guard” by Deepak Reju. The books are complementary.

[Will Standridge, II · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly helpful resource we’re using to update our child safeguarding policies at church.

[Katie Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for every church and ministry leader

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A useful resource for anyone thinking about the best ways to protect our children from abuse. A well as how to help those who have already experienced it.

I really appreciate the sample policy guides. They are useful as I look at how best to update our church policies.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful in practically developing policy. Format was a bit unwieldy, but I suppose that's how this kind of book is supposed to be.