We live in an age of moral, ethical and spiritual decline, and in our activities we not only have to show Bahá'í attitudes and principles, we have to act with responsibility and common sense. Some years ago our National Spiritual Assembly introduced procedures for the protection of children and young people, setting out the steps that those responsible for gatherings have to take. As time has moved on these have changed, and they have become more demanding. The steps are necessary for the protection of the young people themselves, for the adults who teach or otherwise look after them, and for the good name of the Faith. While they are often spoken of as “Child Protection” they actually apply to those under the age of 18 years, so are also necessary for junior youth and (where there are participants under 18) youth events.
They apply wherever an event is organised under the auspices of the Faith – whether by the Bahá'í Council or any of its agencies, by a Spiritual Assembly, a cluster-based coordinator or body, even by a Bahá'í group. They have to be followed in all cases – you cannot, for instance, simply go out and invite the local children into your home for a children’s class, we do not live in a society which countenances such behaviour, and the protection offered by the procedures is something all organisers must seek.
So what do you do? You must, at an early stage in the organisation, make contact with Dorothy Riordan, the Council’s Child Protection Officer. There are forms to be filled in and steps to be taken. Dorothy will help you with these. Please contact here early on; we are emphasising this, it is too important a matter to leave until the last minute. It is necessary for those dealing primarily with the children or young people to have a “disclosure” that is an official clearance that they have no criminal or other adverse record in this area. This used to be done by POCVA, now it goes through the new statutory body ACCESS-NI. It takes time to get a “disclosure” (which is why the Council has in the past encouraged the Friends to seek one even if they were not at the time planning to take part in such events) and you will need it if you aim to hold children’s classes, take part in junior youth projects etc.
The National Spiritual Assembly has given the Bahá'í Council the responsibility of ensuring that these procedures are followed throughout Northern Ireland, including by LSAs. The Council has the right to stop any event, class or gathering for children or young people where the procedures have not been followed. It’s that important. A full set of the National Spiritual Assembly’s Procedures for the Protection of Children and Young People is available either as hard copy or PDF file from the Secretary of the Bahá'í Council.
The National Spiritual Assembly has launched a new newsblog “providing an authoritative and up-to-date source of news and articles about theBahá'í community in the UK and across the world. The 'blog' is designed to appeal to all readers who are interested in knowing more about the Bahá'í community and what it is doing in the world.” It can be accessed at http://bahainews-uk.info and has a lot of interesting news about what is going on. This is one to keep an eye on, and you can let your friends, contacts, interested journalists, anyone who wants to see what the Bahá'ís are doing, know about it.
The Bahá'í Council would like to remind all the Friends in Northern Irelandthat the small ‘activities booklet’ is still available on request (in small or larger quantities). Giving an overview of the core activities for the non-Bahá'í reader, it is professionally-designed, colourful, ideal for handing to friends and enquirers: if you want some copies to give away please get in touch with the Secretary of the Bahá'í Council.
These booklets are resources to be out there working for the Faith, telling people about our various activities and inviting them to join. Why not get some and use them?
The Bahá'í Council has access to templates that you can use to produce your own leaflets to invite people to your various activities. These are in MS Word which means they can be opened and edited in most word processors, letting you amend them as you like and put in your own contact details and local information. They are A4 sheets that trifold.
Items available are: CA-1 and CA-2—about the various core activities SC-2—about study circles CC-2—about children’s classes DM-2—about devotional meetings TZ-1—about Tranquillity Zones. (The National Spiritual Assembly has indicated that these are a specialised form of devotional meetings with a lot to offer in certain circumstances.)
To obtain electronic copies please e-mail the Bahá'í Council specifying which items you want.
If you are wondering, SC-1, DM-1, and CC-1 are also available, they require Microsoft Publisher to open and edit them. If you have Publisher and want them, please say.
For more about Tranquillity Zones go to www.tranquillity-zone.org.uk
And while thinking about leaflets and how we can produce our own literature, how often have we asked “Where can I get a good picture of the Shrine of the Báb, or a temple, or a Bahá'í youth project, or just a nice photo of Bahá'ís doing things?”. The answer is the Bahá'í Media website at http://media.bahai.org which is a large archive of pictures related to the Bahá'í Faith. (Hint: If you download the picture on your screen you will get a small to medium size file, suitable for electronic media or printing as a smaller picture. If you want a large file so that you have a high-resolution picture for a large or professional print you will have to Subscribe then use the Download File option to get the zipped file of the large version).
CommuNIqueand other Bahá’í publications welcomes photographs of your activities. However where children and young people (up to age 18) are featured the Child Protection Procedure of the National Spiritual Assembly requires that (unless it is a group picture—five or more) permission of the parent or guardian be given. If this doesn’t come with the photo then it cannot be used. Please bear this in mind when sending pictures. Of course if the sender is the parent or guardian of the young person featured, permission is assumed.
The Bahá'í Council been experimenting with the setup of an electronic calendar If anyone has been able to access it we would be very grateful to havesome feedback. It is now possible to access the calendar by using the URL http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=bahai.council4ni%40googlemail.com.
In addition you can import the calendar data into other electronic calendars such as Outlook etc. Please send details of any items you would like to add to the calendar to Edwin Graham.
Are you due to go on Pilgrimage, or making a three-day visit to the World Centre? Not only will this bring you great bounties, it can be an opportunity to share more about the Faith with the people of your area. Such a visit is newsworthy and your local paper will probably print a report about your experience, especially if it is seen as a “pilgrimage with a difference”.
A special press lead is available to help you with this. You can obtain it from the Bahá'í Council’s Press and Public Information Officer.
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