In September 2025, Anna participated a two-day in-depth safeguarding training online for people with disability, targeted at people in safeguarding leadership positions. This is the fifth in series of 7
Warning Signs and Preventing Abuse
The training also covered how to understand and look out for grooming and abuse. There are several actions that create opportunities to abuse and exploit people with disability and vulnerable people, which can affect the person, their family, the people around them, and entire communities. Trust can be established with someone and then opportunities can present themselves to be alone with that person. This trust could come about because of the position that the exploiter is in, and the fact that checks are assumed to have taken place. There is no profile of victims of abuse, however it is often people who are lonely who are targeted. Someone’s friendly behaviour could escalate to sexualised behaviour and then abuse. Grooming behaviour can be hard to recognise, especially because a great volunteer can look similar to a grooming volunteer. Behaviour of abusers could look like being overly friendly to someone, offering lifts and additional support above and beyond their job, and inappropriate contact or contact that is out of context, such as online contact outside of their job or working hours. Behaviours of victims may include changed behaviour and being fearful, being anxious, being avoidant of someone, aggressive behaviour, or unexplained injuries and medical issues. We can take action to minimise abuse in the church, in the community and other settings or contexts. We can create clear expectations around behaviour, call out inconsistent behaviour and when behaviour falls outside of professional boundaries, act on gut feelings, and have clear reporting processes. We do not need proof to report suspected abuse but we do need to make it clear to other people that we take safety seriously, which could be by providing a single point of contact to establish patterns of behaviour. Internal reporting systems are very important as grooming behaviour may not look like criminal behaviour. Warning signs can be picked up before abuse occurs, especially through repeated breaches of the code of conduct or overstepping professional boundaries. It is important to act on any behaviour occurring that is inconsistent with the code of conduct, or if it doesn’t look right. So how can this be applied to a church context? Make sure your volunteers and church leaders are supervised during events and are accountable for their behaviour. Keep an eye out on people who attend events or worship and make sure they do not have any changes in behaviour that could mean they are being abused at church. Also keep an eye on volunteers and leaders to make sure their behaviour is appropriate. Ensure that reporting systems are rigorous and everybody knows who to report to.
There are many ways to prevent abuse. You can make it harder for abusers to access vulnerable people by putting restrictions on access to locations and thus increasing the effort needed by abusers. You can also increase the impact of safety measures by holding people accountable for their behaviour and reporting to authorities.
Understanding environmental risk and implementing mitigations for it can mean there is less chance for abuse to occur. Ask questions when in situations involving relationships of trust.
- How is the activity delivered? One on one?
- What relationships do people have with each other?
- Do these involve close community relationships?
- Is the person vulnerable?
- Are they a child?
- Are they from a CALD background?
- Are there pre-existing relationships established?
- Is there a power imbalance?
- Are they Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander?
- Is someone at risk experiencing social isolation, marginalised against, or in a difficult or complex circumstance?
- What environment is the activity taking place in? is it away from other people?
- Is there a sensory space that is dark and secluded, creating a risk for safety?
- What arrangements are in place for transport for people?
- Are strangers attending? Are spaces warm and welcoming?
- Is online communication required?
- Are photos taken and how are these used? Who has access to personal information about people?
- Some of these important questions may only apply in some circumstances, however it is important to think about all of these things when planning or attending an event.