Every Church needs a Concept for protecting against Sexual Violence

In September 2022, the German SDA church paper Adventisten heute devoted its issue to the topic of confronting sexual violence. All congregations and groups in the church that are involved in activities with children and youth are encouraged to develop a protection concept to prevent sexual abuse.
Children and young people have a right to protection from sexual violence. The German Federal Child Protection Act, which came into force on January 1, 2012, requires the mandatory development of protection concepts for child and youth welfare facilities. A protection concept is about how children and young people can be effectively protected from sexual violence and how they can be offered safe places. A protection concept is an answer to the question, "What has to happen so that nothing happens?"
Risk analysis as a central building block of a protection concept
The protection house shows the building blocks or components of a protection concept. They can be clicked on individually to get more information on the specific topics. All building blocks are united in terms of content in the analysis of protection and risk factors. The questionnaire (risk analysis) on which it is based allows a finished protection concept to be created, which must be submitted to the relevant authorities.
All the information is also available in detail in the resource "SCHÜTZEN & BEGLEITEN". The resource can be downloaded free of charge, and the print version can be ordered for a fee: schutzkonzept-adventisten.de.
On this website, churches and groups can conduct a moderated risk analysis that aims to help local churches and groups develop and implement effective protection concepts. With the protection concept, congregations and groups of the church meet the legal requirements and at the same time represent an essential building block to protect children and young people from sexual violence.