"St John the Baptist Church Hammerwich is committed to the safeguarding of children, young people and adults. We follow the House of Bishops guidance and policies and have our own Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO) who is Maureen Woodcock - Telephone - 01543 674564. Also, the Diocese of Lichfield’s safeguarding website pages (https://www.lichfield.anglican.org/safeguarding/) contain vital links and information including contacts for the Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor (DSA), Neil Spiring: Office Telephone - 01543 306147 or Email: [email protected], who advises our PSO. If you are concerned that a child or adult has been harmed or may be at risk of harm please contact the DSA. If you have immediate concerns about the safety of someone, please contact the police and your local authority Children or Adults Services."

For Out of Hours and weekend emergencies please call the Emergency Safeguarding number 0303 003 1111 (option 2).
This number will take you through to Thirty One Eight (thirtyoneeight.org/, formerly CCPAS), who will register your call and help with your emergency. We have an information sharing agreement with Thirty One Eight so that any details given will be forwarded onto the Diocesan Safeguarding team so we can follow up with you if necessary. You can choose to remain anonymous if you wish to when making the call but we will not be able to get any follow up information.

The Diocese of Lichfield and the Church of England treats the duty of care it owes to children entrusted into our care very seriously.

The safety and security of children is of the utmost importance and guidelines and policies are part of the processes that have been adopted to ensure that all children taking part in activities in our churches may do so in a loving, caring and safe atmosphere. In order to ensure this we have a Diocesan Safeguarding Policy and we recommend that every parish have a Safeguarding Policy as outlined in the House of Bishops revised Policy document Promoting A Safer Church 2017.

The safety and security of children is of the utmost importance and guidelines and policies are part of the processes that have been adopted to ensure that all children taking part in activities in our churches may do so in a loving, caring and safe atmosphere. In order to ensure this we have a Diocesan Safeguarding Policy and we recommend that every parish have a Safeguarding Policy as outlined in the House of Bishops revised Policy document Promoting A Safer Church 2017.

For non-emergency reporting of safeguarding concerns please contact one of our Safeguarding Advisers (listed below):

Peter Hurd - Assistant Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor
Office: 01543 221105
Mobile: 07494 884930
Email: [email protected]

Peter Hurd is the Assistant Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor and an experienced, qualified Social Worker. Peter is deputy for Neil Spiring, when he is not available, as well as working on casework, safeguaring issues involving Children and Adults at Risk and supporting parishes with safeguarding advice. Peter is working alongside Kim Hodgkins and Julia Dixon as part of the Diocesan Safeguarding Team.

Kim Hodgkins - Safeguarding Officer
Office: 01543 306099
Mobile: 07944 910934
Email: [email protected]

Kim Hodgkins working alongside the DSAs with casework and to support Clergy, Parish Safeguarding Coordinators and parishes in Safeguarding matters relating to children.

Julia Dixon - Safeguarding Training Advisor
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: 07896 448248

Julia Dixon joined the team in January 2019 and takes the lead on developing and monitoring our training programme. Her role allows dedicated support to ensuring that we are able to maximise training capacity and ensure that we can continually evaluate and improve this part of our service.

Sue Lord - DBS Administrator

Email: [email protected]
Office: 01543 221506
Working days: Monday pm, Tuesday, Wed pm

Sue is the first point of contact for queries (that are not covered in the DBS - key resources page)about DBS applications submitted through the diocese.

The team are based at the diocesan offices in Lichfield, though all spend a greater or lesser proportion of their time out and about, meeting clergy and parish safeguarding advisers, delivering training locally and working with other professionals on casework.

St Marys House
The Close
Lichfield WS13 7LD

Safe Spaces: an independent service supporting survivors of church-related abuse
Launched in September 2020, this service offers support to survivors of church-related abuse whether or not a report has been made. From 9th January 2023, Safe Spaces will be managed by First Light. First Light is an independent organisation with over 25 years’ experience in supporting those who have experienced or are experiencing sexual abuse and/or domestic violence and abuse, including survivors and victims of church-related abuse. They provide confidential, independent and specialist support; this support is trauma-informed and victim-led. As previous, Safe Spaces will continue to offer emotional support and advocacy services for victims and survivors of church related abuse.

Support from Safe Spaces may involve:

A space to be listened to and heard.
An individualised communications plan – where service users may say how and when they would like contact.
A risk assessment and personalised safety plan.
Psychoeducational support.
Safety and stabilisation.
Advocacy around reporting to Churches and statutory services.
Signposting to other support services.
Whilst support can be therapeutic in nature, it is distinct from counselling. Victims and survivors wishing to access counselling services will be supported to consider the options available to them, including NHS, Church and voluntary sector provision.

The Safe Spaces Services telephone number is now 0300 303 1056.
Opening hours will be extended to Monday to Friday 9am – 9pm, Saturday 9-1pm and Sunday from 1-5pm (excluding bank holidays, subject to review) The new email address is [email protected] and the website can be found at safespacesenglandandwales.org.uk

Useful Phone Numbers Office hours
Out of Hours Tel (before 9am, after 5pm and at weekends)
Emergency (immediate risk)
General Numbers

Police 101 101 999
Healthcare 111 111 999
Diocese Safeguarding Number 01543 306030 0303 003 1111 (option 2) N/A
Childrens Safeguarding Phone numbers

Staffordshire/Stoke Childrens 0800 1313126 0345 604 2719 999
Shropshire Childrens 0345 678 9021 0345 6789040 999
Telford and Wrekin Childrens 01952 385385 999
Walsall Childrens 01922 658170 01922 653555 999
Wolverhampton Childrens 01902 555392 01902 552999 999
Sandwell Childrens 0845 113 5000 0121 569 2355 999

Safeguarding Adults numbers

Staffordshire Adults 0345 604 2719 0345 604 2719 999
Stoke on Trent Adults 0800 561 0015 01782 234234 999
Shropshire Adults 0345 678 9021 0345 6789040 999
Telford & Wrekin Adults 01952 385385 999
Walsall Adults 0300 555 2922 01922 653555 999
Wolverhampton Adults 01902 551199 01902 552999 999
Sandwell Adults 0121 569 2266 0121 569 2355 999

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