Self-Assessment Tool for a Child-Safe and Child-Friendly Church Environment

For your activity to be successful, it is essential to periodically review what and how steps were taken, whether the goals were achieved and further actions. The key objective of creating a child-friendly environment is children’s safety and integration.

As part of the “Child-Friendly Church” project, we have prepared a dedicated self-assessment form to help you:

The form is based on eight key goals that serve as guiding principles for self-assessment. To develop these goals, we first examined academic works from Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant churches on the subject. We also conducted our own research, including focus groups involving 55 lay adults, 5 children, and 20 clergy members of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC). This process helped us crystallize indicators of a church that is child-friendly according to both clergy and laity.

By using this self-assessment tool, you will receive practical advice, recommendations, and free resources to help your parish or organization enhance its efforts toward creating a safe and child-friendly environment.

Quote

“A child-friendly Church does more than merely teach. It sees the needs of the child, mother, and family and tries to address them.”

Khrystyna Shabat, Head of the Child Dignity Center at UCU
Complete the self-assessment

Related resources

ПлакаÑ‚и А3-18

Children’s Safety at School. Posters for the Classroom

The Child Dignity Center at UCU created posters for children that remind them how to protect their boundaries, whom to turn to at school in case of danger, and what to do if a child feels unwell or unsafe.
Screenshot 2023-06-28 at 08.54.31

Algorithm for responding to violence in the church environment

The scheme provides guidance on how to respond if the abuser is an employee/volunteer in the church, as well as a person from other fields
Screenshot 2023-06-28 at 09.19.29

“The reasons why victims of sexual violence don’t talk about what happened to them” (WEBINAR)

About the barriers that survivors of abuse - adults and children - face in telling someone about the fact of violence