Safeguarding God’s Children

The Episcopal Church is committed to nurturing and protecting children from sexual abuse. The Safeguarding God’s Children program is geared to preventing and responding to child sexual abuse in everyday life and ministry. As a three hour class for adults, it provides a basic understanding of the dynamics of child sexual abuse, how to recognize signs that a child may have been abused, and what to do if you have concerns about a person’s behavior toward a child or youth, or if you suspect that a child or youth has been molested.

To protect our children, all faculty, clergy, staff, and most volunteers are required by the Episcopal Church to have the Safeguarding God’s Children training. While this is a very important topic we believe everyone should be educated on, not everyone is required to take it. How do you know if you need to take this class?

You MUST take the class if:

• You work or substitute at school
• You volunteer regularly in the classroom (more than three times a year)
• You accompany a class on a field trip (day or overnight)
• It has been five or more years since you last took the class

You DO NOT need the class if:

• You are a guest/volunteer ONCE (ex: a guest invited to read a book to a class)
• You are a parent coming to help with a special project or are visiting the classroom to hear reports
• You are a parent helping out at a class party

Online Course Registration:
If you would like to take the online course, your log-in must be set up by a Safeguarding Administrator of the church or school. Please e-mail Nancy Melcolm, nmelcolm@stmarksdayschool.org, your first and last name and your e-mail address. You will receive a reply e-mail with log-in information when your account has been set up.

After receiving your log-in information, go to www.safeguardingonline.org. The entire course is comprised of four modules. As a security measure, you must log out and log back in at the end of each module before beginning the next. To make learning most effective, it is recommended you allow sufficient time to complete each module without interruption.

Important: Upon completion of all four modules, you must e-mail Nancy Melcolm again to receive your documentation of completion.