Called to Right Relationship: Safe Church Policies

Called to Right Relationship is the Diocese of California’s official policy on standards and behaviors to ensure that our congregations are safe places for all God's people.

All adults who work with youth must complete a background check and online training at shieldthevulnerable.org. Instructions on how take the course are available here. Upon completion of the course, completion certificates will be available for download and congregations can record them for compliance with their internal safe-church self-audit procedures.

For questions about the policy, procedures, and training and background checking services, please contact Caren Miles, Associate for Discipleship Ministries, carenm@diocal.org, 415.869.7815.

Click accompanying thumbnails to download PDFs. 

In order to accommodate two-sided printing, there is a blank page after the title page in each PDF document.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Letter from the Bishop; Preface; Theological and Ethical Foundations; and Standards of Conduct for Clergy and Lay Leaders (20 pages)

SOCIAL NETWORKING / DIGITAL COMMUNICATION

Suggested Practices and Guidelines for Use of Social Networking and Other Forms of Digital Communication (9 pages)

POLICIES AND COMPLIANCE

Policy for the Protection of Children and Youth (15 pages)

Policy for the Protection of Elders and Dependent Adults (8 pages)

Compliance with Standards for Ministry with Minors and Dependent Adults (2 pages)

Policy Regarding Clergy Misconduct (10 pages)

FORMS

Confidential Notice of Concern (1 page)

Congregational Safe Church Self-Audit (for annual review; 2 pages)

Field Trip Permission and Permiso para Viaje de Estudio(1 page)

Incident Report (2 pages)

Medical and Image Release and Publicación Médica y de Imágen (1 page)

Volunteer Application (3 pages)

Volunteer Driver Information (1 page)