Your comments needed: Child protection social message draft
The ELCA is developing a social statement on child protection and maltreatment, as requested by the 2022 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.
Jesus’ call of welcome in Matthew 19:13-14 points to the church’s responsibilities toward children. Yet too many children today experience not welcome and safety but traumatic abuse and neglect. The ELCA’s draft social message on child protection addresses this crisis and outlines the church’s sacred responsibility to protect and nurture children. To strengthen this draft, we need your feedback. Share your comments and suggestions during the public comment period, from March 21 through June 30.
Read the draft and complete an online survey at ELCA.org/childprotection.
The prevalence of child maltreatment in the United States is staggering. At least 1 in 7 children has experienced abuse or neglect in the last year, according to the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), though the CDC cautions that abuse and neglect are often unreported.
Recognizing the church’s important role in addressing this, the ELCA Church Council authorized the develop a social message on child protection and maltreatment, as requested by the 2022 ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Social messages are ELCA teaching documents that draw from existing social teaching but focus direct attention on a particular social issue.
The feedback period will be open until June 30, 2025.
Public Feedback
A draft of this social message has been released for public feedback. We invite you to share your comments and suggestions during the public comment period, from March 21 through June 30. Click here to read the draft and click here to complete an online survey. If you have questions or written comments, please send them to us here. You can access the draft in large print here. A Spanish translation of the draft will be released soon.
The draft will be strengthened using the public feedback and presented to the ELCA Church Council for a vote this fall.