{"id":143207,"date":"2026-02-11T17:27:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=143207"},"modified":"2026-02-11T18:50:38","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T23:50:38","slug":"church-times-synod-endorses-new-arrangements-for-independent-oversight-of-church-safeguarding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=143207","title":{"rendered":"(Church Times) Synod endorses new arrangements for independent oversight of church safeguarding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new approach to outsourcing church\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchtimes.co.uk\/topics\/safeguarding\">safeguarding<\/a>\u00a0to an independent body was endorsed overwhelmingly by the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchtimes.co.uk\/topics\/general-synod\">General Synod<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite some speeches that called for a greater sense of urgency, or urged the Synod to revisit the idea rejected last year of also moving diocesan safeguarding teams to a new external organisation, members overall welcomed the latest thinking on independent safeguarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dame Christine Ryan, the independent chair of the Safeguarding Structures Programme Board, which is piloting this work, said that, after months of conversations and consultation, it had become clear to her that the Church of England was \u201cready to change\u201d and had a \u201cdeep commitment\u201d to doing \u201cwhat was right\u201d. Nevertheless, actual change was happening far too slowly, she concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Regulators, Parliament, and the public would no longer tolerate incremental improvements, she warned. She had, therefore, drawn up a new model for independent safeguarding which would simplify matters, restore trust, and end the \u201cinvidious\u201d situation in which the Church acted as both \u201cpastor and judge\u201d in safeguarding cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchtimes.co.uk\/articles\/2026\/13-february\/news\/uk\/synod-endorses-new-arrangements-for-independent-oversight-of-safeguarding\">Read it all<\/a>.<\/p><blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A new approach to outsourcing <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/churchsafeguarding?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#churchsafeguarding<\/a> to an independent body was endorsed overwhelmingly by the General <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Synod?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Synod<\/a> on Wednesday afternoon<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/churchnews?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#churchnews<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/churchtimes?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#churchtimes<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hdXsDti9jm\">https:\/\/t.co\/hdXsDti9jm<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Church Times (@ChurchTimes) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChurchTimes\/status\/2021638385752785368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 11, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new approach to outsourcing church\u00a0safeguarding\u00a0to an independent body was endorsed overwhelmingly by the\u00a0General Synod\u00a0on Wednesday afternoon. Despite some speeches that called for a greater sense of urgency, or urged the Synod to revisit the idea rejected last year of<span class=\"ellipsis\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=143207\">Read more &#8250;<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":794,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,324,168,184,177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-143207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anthropology","category-church-of-england","category-ethics-moral-theology","category-parish-ministry","category-pastoral-theology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/794"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=143207"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143210,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143207\/revisions\/143210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=143207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=143207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=143207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}