The Episcopal Church created and adopted Model Policies for the Protection Children and Youth in 2004. Curriculum titled Safeguarding God’s Children and Safeguarding God’s People was produced by Church Pension Group with industry leader Praesidium, Inc. Training to implement the curriculum was provided by CPG staff and subsequent courses were developed to address Prevention of Sexual Harassment. In the 2010s courses were made available online with Praesidium’s online learning platform, Armatus.

In 2019 the task force assigned to update training materials contracted Praesidium to assist with preparing newly updated courses. The series titled Safe Church, Safe Communities became available on the new on-line platform, Praesidium Academy, in late 2021 and early 2022. Church Pension Group continues to provide access to this online learning platform for The Episcopal Church.

The Presiding Bishop established an office for supporting Safe Church initiatives within the Department of Faith Formation in 2022. The office is staffed by one part-time manager and several consultants to assist with training diocesan Safe Church Coordinators including administrators and trainers.

The General Convention of The Episcopal Church adopted various resolutions calling for Model Policy updates and training updates beginning in 2015, 2018, and 2022. The text of these resolutions and their explanations can be found on the General Convention’s Legislative Archive as follows:

2022 A069 Create DFMS Staff Position to Manage Safe Church Website and Respond to Inquiries

2022 A065 Translation and adaption of Safe Church training for speakers of Spanish, Creole and French

2018 A051 Add Safe Church Self-Audit Counts to Parochial Report

2018 A048 Create a Task Force to Update Safe Church Training

2018 Task Force Blue Book Report including reference to Model Policy for the Protection of Vulnerable Adults

2015 A073 Update Model Policies for the Protection of Children and Youth

Page updated May 2024