Volunteer Safe Ministry Check

1. The Safe Ministry Check

Please read the following information carefully:

About this form

NOTE: This facility is only for the use of churches that are part of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. It will not work for other churches.

Thank you for your willingness to complete this Safe Ministry Check.

Please carefully read ALL of the following information before completing the form by clicking on each of the headings below.

The Standing Committee of Synod may prescribe circumstances where a person is not required to complete this form. 

Before completing this form your church should have supplied you with:

If you have not been given these documents, please speak to your Senior Minister or the person he has made his Authorised Delegate for this purpose and read the documents above before proceeding with completing this form.

Thank you for volunteering for a ministry role within your church or church organisation.
The Anglican Church is committed to doing everything we can to ensure that our churches and church organisations are safe for all who participate in church activities—including our volunteers. That is why we require everyone who has a ministry role within the church to meet specific standards of personal conduct.

To help us meet our commitment to safe ministry, we ask everyone who wants to be appointed as a voluntary church worker to answer some important questions. That’s the purpose of this form.

Some of the questions are personal and sensitive. We are not asking you these questions because we think you’ve done anything wrong. We ask them because they are part of a process that will help ensure our churches are safe.

If significant matters are raised for you by the completion of this form you can discuss this with your Senior Minister or the person who asked you to complete this form or alternatively you can contact the Chaplain of the Office of the Director of Safe Ministry (ODSM) on (02) 9265 1500 for a list of counsellors working in the Sydney Diocese.

You will need to complete the form in one sitting and be sure to click ‘Submit’ on the final page. The form does not autosave.
The average person takes approximately 10 minutes to complete the form, however this may vary depending on the amount of information given in response to some questions.

  1. Complete all sections. Most questions require answers in order for you to proceed.
  2. You will need the following information in order to complete this form. Please have these to hand before you start:
    1. Your SMC Church ID – the 5 digit number your church should have given you.
    2. Your WWCC and expiry date (if you have one).
    3. An electronic copy of an ID document. Your ID should be of ONE of the following:
      • A current driver’s licence (both sides),
      • your birth certificate;
      • a current Australian passport;
      • an Australian citizenship document or Australian immigration papers;
      • a current student identity card from an educational institution;
      • r equivalent form of identification.

    4. The name and email address of any referee that you will ask for character references, should you be required to do so.

  3. Answer the questions honestly. Where required, tick the appropriate box.
  4. If you answer ‘Yes’ to certain questions we may have to ask you for more information. But requesting that information doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t undertake ministry to children. Your form will be assessed by your Senior Minister or his delegate, not the Safe Ministry Team.

After you complete this form, when you click ‘Submit’ a copy will be sent to the Senior Minister or his delegate and you will also be emailed a copy for your records.
You Senior Minister or his delegate will then process the form in order to clear you to work with children in the parish . If there are any questions about content of your form you will be contacted by your Senior Minister or his delegate to clarify those questions.

The information you provide in this form and in connection with it will be kept confidential, except that it may be used and disclosed for the purposes set out below and for other purposes with your consent.

This information will be used to assess your suitability to undertake ministry to children in the Diocese of Sydney. The form will be retained in a secure place by the parish or church organisation in which you are intending to exercise ministry. 

The information may also be used and disclosed for the following purposes:

(a)  To comply with laws requiring the reporting of conduct or circumstances to the police, the Children’s Guardian or other authority.
(b)  In other circumstances where use or disclosure of the information is required by law (e.g. in response to a subpoena or a direction from a commission of enquiry).
(c)  To investigate and deal with allegations and admissions of misconduct under the Ministry Standards Ordinance 2017 (or other applicable Safe Ministry ordinance).
(d)  To protect any person from the risk of being harmed.
(e)  To obtain legal advice or other professional advice or for the purpose of legal proceedings.

(f)  To comply with disclosure obligations under a policy of insurance.

If the adult volunteer online form is used, then both the ODSM and  the parish an applicant is a member of will have a copy of the of the form and the id document sent to them.
All parish Safe Ministry Reps have been advised as to how to store those documents securely, and you are encouraged to check with your SMR to ascertain how they are managing that.
For the ODSM – we retain a copy of the form contents and for three months, the id document as required by Standing Committee. The form contents are stored as encrypted data on our web server, with the Diocesan Registrar and one other person the only people with the encryption key to be able to access and read that data.
The id document that is uploaded when an applicant completes the form is first encrypted and then stored in that encrypted form on a cloud storage platform for three months, after which it is then deleted.

The Safe Ministry Check Form - Church ID

FIRST STEP:

In the form below, enter the 5 digit SMC Church ID number (including any leading zeros) that your church leadership has given you.
 If you have not received this, please speak to your Senior Minister or other leader and request it. Without this ID you will not be able to complete the Safe Ministry Check (SMC) form.

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