Volunteer Support across the Diocese

Over the years the Diocese has been fortunate enough to have had a significant number of trained parish volunteers who have willingly and generously given their time and experience to help build robust safeguarding structures throughout the Diocese. At parish level there are two sets of committees who help deliver and maintain safeguarding practices, our Child Care Committees and our Vicariate Support teams. A total of 500 parish volunteers support these two Diocesan structures. Other volunteer support is provided by the Diocesan Safeguarding Committee and the Advisory Panel.

Child Care Committees (CCCs)

In order to ensure that the key safeguarding messages and best practice in child protection are in place at parish level, CCCs were created throughout all of our 88 diocesan parishes. The main role of these newly created CCCs (between 5-8 members) was to identify who in the parish works alongside children and young people and which of our volunteers require to be both vetted and trained. The Diocese has made a strong commitment to support parish volunteers in their work by offering training and the development of best practice guidelines. Keeping volunteers safe and up to date with best practice, keeps children and young people safe in their parish activities. In total some 480 volunteers make up our strong 78 CCCs. These committees have clearly defined roles and functions and receive advice guidance and support to carry out their vital role.

Vicariate Support Teams (VSTs)

Another addition to the diocesan safeguarding structure was the creation of 12 Vicariate Support Teams. Again these teams (of between 2-5 members) are made up of parish volunteers who willingly give their time to deliver training (which is referred to as the Parish Information Session). The VSTs link with the CCCs to identify who in the parish needs to attend these Parish Information Sessions.

The sessions are in essence a 2½ hour awareness training programme designed to share with participants the key messages from the Diocese of Down and Connor Child Protection Policy and Procedures.

During a recent national evaluation of current church training programmes for volunteers, the Down and Connor Parish Information Session was deemed to be a “straight forward fit for purpose training programme.”

It is important to recognise that the Diocese of Down and Connor safeguarding parish structures comprise of some 500 volunteers who themselves are vetted and trained. These dedicated volunteers maintain a unique and robust safeguarding structure designed to ensure that best practice is driven and maintained at parish level where children and young people participate in parish activities.