In March, 2006, the Abuse Prevention Office, Grand Rapids, announced that the name "Abuse Response Team" has been changed to "Safe Church Team." The name change reflects a greater responsibility for the teams to provide education to create safer, healthier churches and not just to respond to abuse when it occurs. So we no longer have Classical Abuse Response Teams and instead have Safe Church Teams.

Safe Church Team Members for Classis Hamilton:
Bette Vander Giessen (Chairperson), Bethel CRC, Waterdown. Email: bettev346@gmail.com
John Benjamins, Immanuel CRC, Hamilton
Jackie Bootsma, Ancaster CRC
Roelie DeKleine, Meadowlands Fellowship CRC, Ancaster
Steve Flokstra, Mount Hamilton CRC, Hamilton
Monica Heeg-Admiral, Hagersville Community CRC, Hagersville
Brenda Hofland, Ebenezer CRC, Jarvis
Jake Termorshuizen, Maranatha CRC, York
Elaine VanWyngaarden, Hope CRC, Brantford
Elizabeth Wagner, First CRC, Hamilton

If you would like to join the team or would like more information, please call Bette Vander Giessen. Ideally, we would like a representative from each church in Classis Hamilton.

Resources:

• List of Books, Videos, Help Lines

• Safe Church Team Mandate

• Four letters of information are now available for download and they are:
  What You Need To Know — Victim
  What You Need To Know — Church Council Member
  What You Need To Know — Accused
  What You Need To Know — Witness
  What You Need To Know — Advocate (Role of an Advocate)

• Suggested Procedures and Guidelines for Handling Abuse Allegations of a Child against a Church Leader. Approved by Synod, 2004

• Providing Court Services for Children: The Child Witness Programme was developed to assist and support children, who have been victims of crime, through the Criminal Justice System and other legal proceedings in which they are involved. Click here for the procedure and steps involved.

Communicator: Each Fall we publish a newsletter called the Communicator that is distributed to each member in our Classis Hamilton churches. The latest newsletter is available from your church secretary or click on the name to download your own copy (each Communicator is two pages). If there is a topic that students, teachers or other organizations might benefit from, please feel free to distribute it to them.

Current Communicator: Fall 2008 (cyberbullying and what victims of cyberbullying can do now)

Previous Communicators:
Fall 2007 (what is emotional neglect and what can you do about emotional neglect)
Fall 2006 (what is child abuse and what you should do if you suspect child abuse)
Fall 2005 (suggested procedures and guidelines for handling abuse allegations of a child against a church leader)
Fall 2004 (what you need to know if you are a victim)

Previous Safe Church Team Reports To Classis Hamilton: January 2009; September 2008; May 2008, January 2008; September 2007; May, 2007; January, 2007, September, 2006, May, 2006 January, 2006, September, 2005, May, 2005, January, 2005, September, 2004, May 2004, January 2004, September 2003, May 2003, January 2003, September 2002, May 2002

Classis Hamilton Safe Church Team
Report to Classis
May, 2009

Dear Classis Delegates,

Here is an update of our activities since the January classis report.

1. Recall that last September we distributed flyers on Child Abuse and Domestic Violence to all classis church members. Many churches used these flyers as bulletin inserts. Beth Swagman, Director of Abuse Prevention, stated that close to 55,000 inserts were distributed throughout Canada and the United States which is a record for Abuse Prevention.
2. Twenty-three Safe Church Team (SCT) people from 18 classes met at the Prince Center at Calvin College.  They shared many stories — both triumphs and disappointments — and talked at length about how to strengthen and improve our Classical SCTs.  Although it was acknowledged that there is a long way to go, participants encouraged one another and the evaluations reflected that the time was well spent. We want to continue this mass-joint-effort to revise and revive the SCTs. One decision made was to continue to talk to each other via Google communication (shared documents on-line) and bi-monthly teleconference calls to discuss concerns and share information.
3. At the request of Beth, our own Pastor Ken Benjamins agreed to let his sermon on Abuse Awareness that he preached on Abuse Awareness Sunday last September be available online. The Abuse Prevention office is in the process of re-working the Abuse Prevention website and plans to include several sermons on Abuse Prevention and Awareness.
4. The CRC Board of Trustees convened a task force to consider how best to respond to victims of abuse by church leaders in the CRC.  The goal of the task force is to help CRC churches respond appropriately to cases of abuse by church leaders within the church community. The task force now has a draft of a report which will be further revised before submission to Synod 2010. This report deals with how the church responds to abuse, with particular attention to pastoral care, financial issues, restitution, and the application of restorative justice principles. If you would like a copy of this report, please email John Gilson. The SCT will be studying this report at their next meeting on April 20.
5. Interesting stats from the Abuse Prevention Office:
   1. 552 out of the 1100 congregations in Canada and the U.S. now have a Child Safety Policy.
   2. 21 of the 47 classes have Safe Church Teams in place.
   3. 10 out of 12 Canadian classes have a Safe Church Team. 1/3 of U.S. classes do.

In His Service
On behalf of the Classis Hamilton Safe Church Team
John Gilson, Chairperson
Email: classishamilton@bfree.on.ca
Website: www.classishamilton.ca (click on the link to the Classis Safe Church Team)