Strengthening Safeguarding between Statutory Agencies & Faith Organisations
Safeguarding is most effective when agencies understand the full context of a person’s life—including their cultural, community, and faith environment. Faith-based organisations are often deeply embedded in communities, trusted by families, and frequently the first point of contact when concerns arise.
Faith shapes how people understand safety, harm, care, discipline, gender, leadership, decision making, help seeking, and more. For safeguarding professionals, not understanding this context can lead to miscommunication, mistrust, or missed concerns.
When it comes to safeguarding, research shows that poor understanding, weak information sharing, and inefficient processes between statutory services (SSs) and Faith Based Organisations (FBOs) can hinder effective safeguarding and negatively impact safeguarding outcomes. We believe that for safeguarding to be done well, it needs to be done together.
Statutory Services (SSs):
Are public services that the law requires government and local authorities to provide. These services are established under specific legislation and include things like education and social care. Organisations delivering these services must follow rules to ensure people’s needs are met.
Faith-based Organisations (FBOs):
Groups or institutions whose work, values, or services are rooted in religious beliefs or connected to a particular faith tradition.
"Creating and maintaining conversations and dialogue is extremely important. This will ensure mutual interests are maintained and as statutory organisations, we will have knowledge of what faith organisations expect from us.”
- Senior Manager working for a Safeguarding Children Partnership in England
The Faith and Safeguarding Project
The Faith and Safeguarding Project is a training initiative designed to improve understanding and collaboration between statutory services (SS) and faith-based organisations (FBOs) in the UK. It aims to improve safeguarding practices by increasing statutory professionals’ understanding of faith contexts, beliefs, and governance structures, through free, accessible training.
Free Training for Statutory Agencies
If you work for a statutory agency, our free 1-hour videos will give you valuable insight into safeguarding in a faith organisation. Helping you to understand the nuances of structure, roles, governance, the impact of theology, relationships and how to build trust.
Each session is a 1-hour ‘lunch and learn’ panel discussion, with experts from the faith and safeguarding sectors.
The videos are free, but you will need to register to access them.
Click here to register and access the videos.
"I think there needs to be an honest dialogue between the teams, to explain and understand each other’s roles and how we can support an investigation.”
- Safeguarding advisor in a Humanist Church in England
What are the benefits?
Builds understanding of faith-based contexts
Supports inclusive, respectful practice
5 hours CPD-accredited training
Builds confidence in engaging with diverse communities
Helps professionals understand faith as a source of resilience
Encourages collaborative safeguarding approaches
Promotes mutual respect and shared language between sectors
Who is this training for?
This training is best suited to:
- Statutory professionals such as Social workers, NHS staff, police.
- Those working in child protection, adult safeguarding, and community services.
About the training
Session One: Dovetail and Divergence
This panel discussion focuses on where faith and safeguarding align or conflict.
In this session, we were joined by:
- Pav Kaur - Safeguarding Specialist, NWG Network
- Kirsty Findlay - Senior Safeguarding Practitioner, NHS (Midlands)
- Sukhvinder Kaur - Faith and Exploitation Lead, Sikh Women’s Aid
Session Two: Risk and Resilience
This panel discussion focuses on how faith can both support and complicate safeguarding.
In this session, we were joined by:
- Carlene Cornish – Associate Professor in Social Work at University of East Anglia
- Caroline McDonald - Team Leader, Children’s Services, Scotland
Session Three: Roles and Relationships
This panel discussion focuses on understanding each other’s responsibilities and overcoming reluctance to engage.
In this session, we were joined by:
- Jane Bee – Director, Jane Bee Safeguarding
- Helen Platt – Safeguarding Specialist
- Tim Melville FRSA - Member Bahá’í Council for Wales
Additional learning resources cover:
- Overview of six major UK faiths (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism).
- Safeguarding structures and theological perspectives on physical punishment, disability, and care.
- Interactive tasks and reflection exercises.
"The best safeguarding course I’ve been on, and I’ve been on quite a few!"
Is the Training accessible?
Yes. At Thirtyone:eight we make our training accessible in the following ways:
- Self-paced learning
- Transcripts and downloadable resources are available.
- Closed captioning on panel discussions
- Screen reader-compatible learning resources available on request
- Content is designed to be inclusive and accessible for a wide range of learners.
- Reflective tasks allow for personalised learning and application to their day-to-day practice.
"Due to the nature of my job I am required to attend a lot of safeguarding training. I have to say that today's training has been one of the best. The team were engaging and approachable."
