Protect our children and vulnerable adults NOW!

 

On behalf of 21st Century Saints Podcast, representing a UK and worldwide audience, we are aware of serious concerns about safeguarding procedures within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

A recent Associated Press article (link below), has caused a great deal of concern from within and outside of the Latter-day Saint faith community. The Church itself has issued a response to the article (link below) which is wholly insufficient and which does not alleviate the concerns raised by the AP article. 

The Associated Press article shares the experiences of children within a single family who were sexually abused by their father. This abuse was not only reported to leadership within the church but was well known within the broader congregation. The article goes on to highlight the insufficiency and frankly egregious failures of the systemic failures of reporting abuse within the church, which involves clergy calling a specialised hotline to speak to lawyers who often advise clergy not to report. The reporter is the same Michael Rezendez who broke the Catholic Church abuse story and whose work features in the film Spotlight. 

As there are local congregations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in communities throughout the world, we highlight these concerns. Basic safeguarding procedures are not being followed. Congregants who work directly and closely with children, youth and vulnerable adults are not subject to criminal background checks. No safeguarding posters with information on how to seek help and report are to be found anywhere in Latter-day saint buildings. There is no training for members or leaders in the church with the exception of an extremely poor and wholly insufficient online video which lasts for around 3 minutes. 

We make 2 requests.

1. Ensure that all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who will or who may work with children and vulnerable adults, be subject to criminal background checks.

2. We ask that our supporters raise the issue of safeguarding within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with both Church leadership and your elected representatives so that faith groups can continue to work towards best practice. 

We have been aware of specific instances where people the UK, Europe, the USA, Canada and around the world have been harmed by these failings.  They are the most distressing things we have ever heard. We believe that our elected representatives must be made aware of the seriousness of these issues and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must act now to implement improved and robust safeguarding and reporting procedures.

Jane Christie 
Lead Producer

21st Century Saints

 

Links:

Associated Press Article
Mormon church sex abuse: AP investigation | AP News

Church Press Release

Church Provides Further Details about the Arizona Abuse Case (churchofjesuschrist.org)

(please note that this response does not contract the facts, only the timeline. No safeguarding advice is contained here for victims. I would suggest that calling a church lawyer is NOT an adequate safeguarding response.)

Church Handbook of Instructions
38. Church Policies and Guidelines (churchofjesuschrist.org)
See section 38.6.2

(We assert that these guidelines do not constitute adequate safeguarding procedures.)