8.0 COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATING WITH THE CONGREGATION:
General
Communicating with the church lawyer and insurance company is essential, and the church board should respect their advice concerning communication with a victim, offender, family members and members of the church.
Communication to the congregation should be timely and completely transparent. Secrecy about situations within the church may encourage abuse - transparency makes everyone safer. The identity of the sex offender will not be kept a secret and we will inform the congregation of the offender’s bail, probation/parole and Sex Offender Registry terms and conditions. Therefore, the church leadership must move quickly to arrange a meeting with the whole congregation and send letters to the membership (see Appendices attached to the Sexual Abuse Protocols). This is not only necessary, but a way to forestall continual one-on-one communication with concerned or incensed members and to concentrate all parties’ energy on problem solving.
Email/Texting
It is recommended that email/Texting to families of victims, offenders, and other members of the church should be limited to essentials. Email/Texting misinterpretations and misunderstandings can occur. Verbal conversations are preferable. Email is preferable to texting as texting predominantly shortens messages to the extent of being incomplete.
Letters and Release forms See appendices.
WHAT COMMUNICATIONS ARE NEEDED
Communicating with the Congregation
First Letter – Do Not Delay: As soon as charges are known the Church Board must send a letter to the congregation and encourage families with children/young persons/vulnerable persons to ask if anything sexually inappropriate has happened to them while participating in the ministries of Mountainview. Based on their responses, you may have a matter that should be reported to law enforcement.
First Congregants Meeting: should be held as soon as possible after charges are laid.
Second Congregants Meeting: question and answer session followed by prayer and readings (Vigil).
Second Letter to Congregants: if further charges are laid against the offender, OR someone comes forward about anything sexually inappropriate happening at Mountainview, a letter should be sent to the congregation as soon as possible.
Covenant: when a Covenant is agreed to and signed by the offender, the congregation should be advised of the contents of the Covenant.
Suspension/Dismissal when the offender has violated the Covenant: all congregants will be made aware of the violation.
Offender refuses to agree to sign a Covenant: the congregation will be made aware that the offender has been sent a suspension/dismissal letter, and why. There may be a need to send a Trespass Notice.
Communicating with a Victim and Victim’s family
Children/Young persons/vulnerable person: parents/guardians must be involved in all communications. (A child cannot be charged with a criminal offence, but they can be investigated by police and FACS to determine appropriate treatment and custody.)
Adult Victim 18 years and over:
By email: should be limited to essentials.
In person: communication should preferably be with the adult victim only, but because of the trauma suffered by the victim it is very possible, and reasonable, that they may want a family member or a close confidant to be with them.
Communicating with the Offender and Offender’s family
Offender is a child/young person/vulnerable person: parents/guardians must be involved in all communications. Note: a child 12 and under cannot be charged with a criminal offence, but they can be investigated by police and FACS to determine appropriate treatment and custody.
Adult Offender 18 years and over:
By email: should be limited to essentials.
In person: It is suggested that communication should be with the adult offender only. Incorporating family members in conversation with adult offenders is not recommended. The family may exert pressure to be present, but offender and support persons may be inhibited by family members being in attendance.