Together with Him,
Mal Watts
SIM Australia – National Director
SIM believes that children have the right to be free of the risk of harm. Consequently, it recognises its responsibility to minimise the risk of harm to:
• the children of its members
• any child by any SIM personnel, ministry or project
The objectives of this policy are to reduce the risk of harm to children under the care of SIM and to reduce the risk of misconduct towards children by SIM personnel.
The SIM International Child Safety Program is the response by SIM to fulfill these objectives. The Child Safety Policy and the Child Safety Principles & Practices outline the Prevention and Response strategies aimed to reduce the risk of harm to children under the care of SIM and to reduce the risk of misconduct to children by SIM personnel.
SIM is committed to the assessment of Child Safety Reports, both of historical and current Child Safety concerns. The Child Safety Policy and the Child Safety Principles & Practices present the Definitions, Prevention Strategies and Response Procedures to which all SIM entities will adhere for their Child Safety policies and programs. Each SIM entity’s Child Safety Program will also meet the legal requirements of their specific countries while providing safety to children and supervision of their personnel.
Dear Friends,
As a dad to two missionary kids (MKs) with SIM, this is both an organisational and personal letter to you. Your experiences growing up as an MK are diverse and varied – with some having a wonderful experience with rich memories, while others faced very difficult challenges which impacted your adult life.
I want to respond in a couple of ways, both as SIM internationally and SIM Australia. Firstly, to acknowledge and respond to those who have faced difficult and sometimes traumatic experiences. We want to share with you a heartfelt apology from our International Director, Joshua Bogunjoko. At SIM Australia, we both endorse and support this apology and are committed to listening and acting together with the global community of SIM entities.
Secondly, to ensure that we understand all of your experiences, we would like to hear from you and have created a questionnaire with the links below. This can be completed on-line or if you prefer to remain anonymous, there is a pdf version you can download, complete and return. This questionnaire helps us to care for you and ensure that we are caring well for MKs currently on the field, and those who will go in the future. Children are a blessing from God to be cared for and protected.
Trained, trauma-informed people are available and would be honoured to listen to any story you would like to share. They will also seek to understand how you wish to move forward at this time. If you are aware of any others who lived overseas as children of SIM Australia missionaries, please share this letter or a link to this communication with them as well.
If you would like to share your story or if you have any further questions, please reach out to us at amk@sim.org.au. Any replies to this email will also be received confidentially at this secure AMK email address.
Thank you for helping us.
Together with Him,
Mal Watts
SIM Australia – National Director