By Muvija M
LONDON (Reuters) -The Church of England on Tuesday prepared to vote on overhauling its safeguarding system to make it independent, seeking to restore confidence following several failures in dealing with abuse.
The Church’s ruling body – the General Synod – was set to vote on two different safeguarding models at a meeting in London, the first since former leader Justin Welby quit over a child abuse cover-up scandal in November.
Lead safeguarding bishop Joanne Grenfell said the “radical steps” were necessary.
“We haven’t yet got the right climate in which the general public can say that they have trust and confidence in us,” she told synod members as she opened the debate.
The mother church for 85 million Anglicans worldwide has been engulfed in a crisis over how it protects its members from abuse since Welby’s departure, with media reports alleging more abuse within the Church.
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, who has temporarily stepped in for Welby while a permanent successor is selected, acknowledged when he addressed the Synod on Monday that trust had been broken and pledged to improve the systems in place.
Cottrell, who has been accused of historic safeguarding failures himself, acknowledged making mistakes.
One safeguarding model transfers most of the staff employed by the Church’s National Safeguarding Team (NST) to an external body, while the other goes further by also transferring safeguarding staff from cathedrals and diocesan teams.
Grenfell, who recommended the second option, said both models would involve external scrutiny of safeguarding measures and would reduce the risk of actual or perceived conflict of interest.
Martyn Snow, seen as a possible candidate to succeed Welby as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, also backed the second option, saying it was the only way to “ensure a cultural reset and to rebuild trust”.
Some Synod members were unconvinced, arguing that the transfer of all safeguarding to an external body was an untested model.
(Reporting by Muvija M; editing by Ed Osmond and Ros Russell)
