By Hook or by Crook: When Care Is Replaced by Control

Safeguarding should exist to protect the vulnerable, hold power to account, and cultivate trust. Yet in some church contexts it has been distorted into a mechanism of coercion. By hook or by crook—through manipulation or force—safeguarding language is repurposed not to protect, but to control, silence, discredit, or remove those who challenge authority.

Weaponised safeguarding often presents itself as entirely respectable. It borrows the language of safety, risk, and compliance while quietly undermining justice, due process, and compassion. Allegations may be exaggerated, selectively applied, or conveniently timed. Concerns are reframed as “risk management issues” rather than matters of truth. Whistleblowers become rebranded as “unsafe,” “unstable,” or “a risk to others,” neatly neutralised under the guise of protection.

In such environments, safeguarding ceases to be pastoral and becomes political. It shifts from preventing abuse to preserving power. Those tasked with oversight may be pressured to “find something” to justify a predetermined outcome.

The effect is chilling: fewer people speak up, genuine harm is buried, and trust erodes from within institutions that claim to be sanctuaries.

True safeguarding is courageous, transparent, accountable, and grounded in truth. Weaponised safeguarding is none of these. It disguises injustice as process and control as care.

A single question exposes the difference:

Who ultimately benefits from this action — the vulnerable, or the institution?

When the honest answer points toward the institution, something deeply human has already been wounded. Safeguarding loses its heart. It slips from being a place of shelter and becomes yet another barrier people must navigate in their pain.

The Church’s calling is not simply to manage risk, but to protect, to listen, and to hold the hurting with tenderness and truth. Recovering that calling begins with humility — the humility to acknowledge where harm has been done; to listen without defensiveness; to let honesty shine even in the places where it exposes our failings. It requires a compassion stronger than fear, and a commitment to justice gentler — and braver — than control.

Only then can safeguarding return to its true purpose:to be a refuge for the vulnerable,a source of trust for the anxious,and a quiet assurance that the Church has not forgotten how to love.

~Michelle Burns at Guarding the Flock

Writing this blog takes time, care, and a lot of tea. If it’s been helpful to you, you’re very welcome to buy me a cuppa as a small way of supporting it. No pressure at all – I’m just glad you’re here - M