Do you Enjoy Rally?

Updated -

April 23, 2012 1:19 PM



‘Safety’ at Rally    By Gillian Diprose

 

 Titus 2:7-8 Life Application Bible.

“And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good deeds of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching. Let your teaching be so correct that it can’t be criticized. Then those who want to argue will be ashamed because they won’t have anything bad to say about you.”

 What if . . . .

* You pick up a couple of boys/girls for Rally and they tell you they can’t come tonight as Mum has just run off saying she is going to jump off the bridge and they can’t leave the babies?

* You drop off Y every week and one week she doesn’t want to get out of the car because Mum’s new boyfriend is there and she doesn’t like him . . .

* A child tells you about something bad that has happened at home . . .

* A leader is dropping off a child for you, five minutes drive away, and the parent rings your cell phone over half an hour later to say “is Rally running late tonight?”

* You get back from a rally trip and there is one more parent waiting than children you have on the bus . . gives LEFT BEHIND a whole new meaning . . .

* You are on a girls rally trip and an older brother and his mates turn up and chat up your older girls.

 I could go on – ALL the above things have happened to me in my time as a Rally Leader.  In this article I’m not going to tell you what and how we dealt with these individual situations - instead ALL readers need to think about some important  questions: 

So if Mum is jumping off the bridge – what do you do?

Do you ask why Y doesn’t like the boyfriend?

Do you visit the child’s parents to see if Mum does have bruises . . .

Are you sure that the leader is always going to act in a Godly way?

 I believe that churches who run children’s programmes need to have thoroughly discussed and then documented  protocols/procedures/ expectations around two basic questions:

 A. What do you do that will ensure the safety of every child/ young person entrusted to you?

B. How do you ensure that the leaders in your activity will never be able:

to be accused of acting in an inappropriate way?

or to act in an inappropriate way?

 Some points to consider:

 CHILD SAFETY:

1. Adequate and appropriate supervision:

How many leaders do you need for each activity?

       Note: you will need more if you have ‘challenging’ children, or run a dangerous activity

       e.g. involving water sports, off site trips.

2. People with the right skills for the activity:

it is no good taking your Rally waterskiing if none of the leaders can swim.

If you are a Boy’s Rally have you ever thought about taking a rally leader’s wife or church Mum with you or for a Girls Rally a husband or father or Rally grandparents? We have a retired couple that come with us on all our trips. Together, they sit and listen to the girls, look after watches, clothes etc, lend helping hands where needed and provide a prayerful backing for our Rally – a real blessing from God.

3. Behavioural expectations and consequences that are enforceable.

       Are your behavioural expectations clear and do all your leaders enforce them in a consistent and

       Godly way. Are the consequences fair? Remember: You can withhold a treat or activity but you

       can’t MAKE a child sing.

4. Cultural Awareness.

We need to be conscious of the fact that all homes and cultures do not act, eat and think about everything in the same way as we do. Do not take for granted that your way is the best way to do something, be open to looking at other ways. Check with children and parents to ensure they are comfortable with an activity. e.g. Seventh Day children coming to Rally will not be able to take part in a sausage sizzle, Maori are respectful of food and do not ‘play’ with it e.g. make vegetable animals or use pasta for necklaces etc

 5. Police Vetting

It is Important to ensure that none of your leaders and helpers have a history of behaviour that would make them unsafe as leaders – paedophiles see churches and schools as soft options.

  6. Compliance with the law –

Examples: You must have all children wearing seat beats if they travel in a car (I heard once of a group that didn’t have enough seats so some of the kids rode in the car boot so they wouldn’t LOOK overloaded. . . .)

Cars must have current warrant of fitness/ drivers must have full licences;

There are requirements about supervision of children under 14 and for questioning a child who is under age;

      If an incident arises there can be a ‘conflict of interest’ in investigating it yourself.

LEADER SAFETY:

1. Guidelines for physical contact with the children. Comforting, moving, assisting.

 2. Expectations that ‘one on one’ situations are never out of sight, use the ‘Rule of Three’.

  • e.g. We had a great church Dad who always transported a van load – if his own daughters were sick one of my daughters went in the van with him and he dropped her home last – I knew I could trust him - the purpose was to keep him safe.
  • Sitting up all night at camp with a sick rally boy, maybe this is where we need a camp mum?
  • Taking a child home because they have misbehaved – how can this be done in a way that keeps the child and the leader safe.

   3. Process to become a leader – suitability, orientation to activity, adherence to Statement of Faith.

CHURCH RESPONSIBILITY

1. Clear Statement of Faith, Objectives of Ministry.

 2.  Support, mentoring and development for leaders in their normal activity – e.g. regular meetings with elders/pastors, prayer support and interest from the church body, attendance at Rally/ children’s ministry training days etc.

 3. Accountability to Elders/pastors and church body.

4. Identified trained people to call on to give advice/assist in difficult situations – child advocacy, leader support, security, legal.

SO, you ask, “where is the policy we can use?” –

I have listed some helpful reading below – some even have example policies BUT please note that these are of little use to you UNLESS you have discussed your own situation and your own solutions and adapted them to your own needs. When situations occur you often don’t have the time, or aren’t in the right place, to read a policy. What you need to have developed is an understanding of the expectations and protocols so that you can always respond in a positive way.

Further information: