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Guide XIII-224

Deliverance ministry

A 35 · L 55 · M 1011 interventions in the Trinity explorer
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[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: the Church of England's published framework (House of Bishops' Guidelines for Good Practice in the Deliverance Ministry, 1975, revised 2012, and section 4.1 of the Church's Safeguarding e-Manual), set beside the charismatic teaching of the Bible teacher Derek Prince as his ministry's website publishes it. The guide describes the practice only as its practitioners and church bodies publish it and gives no rite or procedure. The harm account at the end draws on the UK national action plan on child abuse linked to faith or belief (Department for Education, 2012), the Metropolitan Police's Project Violet, National FGM Centre resources and court reports in major news.

What it is. Deliverance ministry is Christian prayer ministry for people who believe, or whose church believes, that they are troubled by evil spirits, demons or other spiritual oppression. Practitioners ground it in the Lord's Prayer ("deliver us from evil") and in the Gospel and Acts accounts of Jesus and the apostles casting out spirits. The Church of England calls it a specialist ministry within its wider healing ministry. Ministers trained for it carry it out, and only those the diocesan bishop authorises may do so. [source: Church of England, Deliverance Ministry page; House of Bishops Guidelines 1975/2012] It is practised far more widely, and with far less oversight, in Pentecostal, charismatic and independent churches, including some African diaspora churches. [source: national action plan 2012; Met Police faith-based abuse page] Detailed published standards for these settings: none found in the sources consulted. [uncertain: not verified]

Core idea of change, as practitioners hold it. Within the tradition, change comes from Christ's victory over evil, made present through prayer, scripture and sacrament. A person troubled by a spirit is freed by ministry in Christ's name. Repentance, confession and forgiving others are commonly taught as part of that freedom. Derek Prince taught that demons "entice", "enslave" and "torment". On his account, sin that persists despite repeated repentance may indicate a demon, while ordinary sin needs only repentance and confession. [source: Derek Prince, "Marks of Demonic Activity in a Person"] These are religious claims, attributed to the tradition and neither affirmed nor dismissed here. Prince also listed physical illnesses, such as cancer and arthritis, among forms of demonic "torment". No form of deliverance is presented here as a treatment for physical or mental illness, and there is no clinical evidence that it treats disease. [synthesis]

What the psychotherapist does. The therapist does not perform, recommend or judge deliverance. The therapist's work runs alongside it:

  • understanding what deliverance means in the client's life;
  • a cultural and spiritual assessment;
  • separating spiritual distress from mental or physical illness without dismissing either;
  • routing health questions to the doctor;
  • working with scrupulosity, fear and religious trauma;
  • keeping children and adults safe;
  • working with clergy when the client wishes.

Because deliverance has been linked to serious abuse and deaths, safeguarding runs through every section. [synthesis]

2. Framework

How the practice is organised, as church bodies publish it. The Church of England's 1975/2012 guidelines set five principles [source: House of Bishops Guidelines]:

  1. Authorisation and training. Only a priest authorised by the diocesan bishop may exercise exorcism and deliverance, under clear lines of accountability and supervision. The ministry is never carried out by one person alone.
  2. Prayer and sacrament. Each exorcism needs the bishop's separate permission. Approved liturgical resources are normally used. Language, touch and body language must be courteous, and the recipient must know beforehand how the ministry will be conducted. No one receives it against their will.
  3. Collaboration with medicine. A multidisciplinary approach is preferred, with doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists consulted as needed. Only suitably accredited practitioners should provide counselling and psychotherapy.
  4. Continuing pastoral care. Diocesan deliverance advisers support clergy, and recipients are encouraged to belong to a caring local church.
  5. Minimum publicity. Privacy and dignity are respected, confidential records are kept, and the limits of confidentiality are explained in advance.

The Safeguarding e-Manual adds the following [source: CofE Safeguarding e-Manual 4.1]:

  • Ordinary prayer, including the Lord's Prayer, and Holy Communion are unrestricted.
  • Formal rites, such as laying on of hands or casting out spirits, need the bishop's authorisation after consultation with the diocesan safeguarding adviser and a medical professional.
  • For adults, that medical professional should discuss consent, capacity and ongoing safeguarding. Deliverance may be inappropriate for, and potentially harmful to, people with some mental disorders.
  • For under-16s, formal rites need written parental consent. For 16–17-year-olds, a medical professional assesses competence. All consultations about under-18s are documented.
  • No deliverance may aim to change sexual orientation or gender identity, even at the person's request. [source: CofE Deliverance Ministry page]

In charismatic and Pentecostal settings, ministry is often led by a pastor, prayer team or visiting minister and may happen in services, small groups or homes. Authorisation and oversight vary from church to church. [uncertain: not verified beyond the 2012 action plan and Met Police descriptions]

The therapist's work alongside it. These are phases of the therapist's own work, not of the rite. [synthesis] The sources give no session counts or durations.

  • Phase A: listen and assess. Goals: understand the client's beliefs, the deliverance experience (past, current or planned) and their meaning; take a cultural formulation; screen for mental and physical illness and for safety. Move on when there is a shared, respectful account of what deliverance means for the client, and no unmanaged risk.
  • Phase B: safety and coordination. Goals: deal with any child or adult safeguarding concern, refer health questions to the GP or psychiatrist, and agree with the client whether to contact clergy. Move on when safeguarding duties are met and health care is in place.
  • Phase C: therapeutic work. Goals: treat the presenting problem (anxiety, depression, scrupulosity, trauma, psychosis or grief) in ways that fit the client's faith, and support healthy community ties. Move on when symptoms ease and the client can hold faith and treatment together.
  • Phase D: aftercare. Goals: plan for relapse and for future pressure to undergo ministry, and keep contact with the doctor and, if the client wishes, the church.

Return to Phase B whenever new information suggests a risk to a child or adult.

3. Guiding principles

  • Neutral respect for belief. Describe spirits, demons and deliverance in the client's own terms. Do not argue, endorse or diagnose spiritually. Practical meaning: ask "what does this mean for you?" rather than "is it real?" [synthesis; source: national action plan 2012, which states it is "not about challenging people's beliefs"]
  • Belief is not the problem; harm is. Only a small minority of people with such beliefs abuse children. Practical meaning: act on harm or risk of harm, never on belief alone. [source: national action plan 2012; Met Police]
  • Not religion-blind. Leaving faith out of assessment misses risk and resources. Practical meaning: ask about faith and belief routinely, "in an open, non-intrusive and non-judgmental way". [source: CWRC rapid review 2012, citing Gilligan 2009]
  • Medicine first for medical questions. Physical and psychiatric symptoms always get medical assessment, whatever spiritual meaning the client gives them. Practical meaning: refer to the GP or psychiatrist and never advise on medicines. [source: House of Bishops Guidelines, principle 3; synthesis]
  • Consent and capacity. No one should receive ministry against their will. Distressed or disturbed people need particular caution. Practical meaning: explore whether the client is choosing freely or under family or church pressure. [source: House of Bishops Guidelines; CofE e-Manual 4.1]
  • Safeguarding overrides confidentiality. Children's welfare comes first. Practical meaning: explain the limits of confidentiality at the start and follow local child and adult safeguarding procedures. [source: national action plan 2012; synthesis]
  • Role clarity. The therapist is not a minister, deliverance adviser or spiritual authority. Practical meaning: never pray deliverance over a client, and never certify that someone is or is not "oppressed". [synthesis]
  • Client-led collaboration. Clergy contact happens only with the client's informed consent, except where safeguarding requires otherwise. Practical meaning: the client chooses who, what is shared and why. [synthesis]
  • Self-awareness. The therapist's own faith or scepticism shapes their reactions. Practical meaning: notice pulls to rescue the client from their faith or to join it, and take these to supervision. [synthesis; spiritual competencies literature such as Vieten et al. 2013, uncertain: not verified]
  • Ethics code. Work within your profession's code on competence, respect for religion and culture, and multiple relationships. [synthesis]

4. Intervention inventory

These are the psychotherapist's own interventions alongside deliverance. They contain no deliverance rite. Unless a source is tagged, the steps are [synthesis] built on the church and safeguarding sources cited.

4.1 Understanding what deliverance means in the client's life

  • Purpose / when: Use when a client mentions deliverance, demons, spirits, curses, witchcraft or "oppression", or when relatives or a church have suggested ministry.
  • Steps:
    1. Ask in the client's words what they believe is happening and where that understanding came from (their own reading, pastor, family, country of origin).
    2. Ask what deliverance means to them: hope, relief, identity, fear, shame or obligation.
    3. Ask what has happened or is planned: who leads it, where, who else is present, and how the client felt during and after.
    4. Ask what their church teaches about doctors, medicines and counselling, and whether the leaders encourage or discourage them.
    5. Summarise back without endorsing or disputing, and ask what the client hopes therapy can add.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Some people in your church see what you're going through as spiritual. How do you see it? What would it mean to you if prayer for deliverance helped, or didn't?"
  • Watch for: relief at being understood (a good sign); hidden pressure ("my pastor says I must"); shame; signs that the client has been told they are the cause of family misfortune. It is working when the client talks openly about both faith and symptoms.

4.2 Cultural Formulation Interview with the spirituality and religion module

  • Purpose / when: At assessment for any client whose distress is framed spiritually, to set out cultural identity, explanations of illness, help-seeking and supports. [The DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview and its supplementary modules, including spirituality, religion and moral traditions, are named here as the manual organises them: uncertain: not verified]
  • Steps:
    1. Explain that you ask everyone about culture and beliefs because they shape how problems are understood.
    2. Cover the CFI domains in your own words: the problem and its cultural definition; causes, including spiritual ones; stressors and supports, including the church; the role of cultural identity; past help-seeking, including prayer and deliverance; and current preferences.
    3. Use the spirituality module to explore religious identity, practices, the role of spiritual leaders, and any conflict between faith and treatment.
    4. Record the client's explanation in their words, for example "under attack" or a term from their language.
  • Example language (illustrative): "What do you think is causing this? Who else have you asked for help, and what did they say?"
  • Watch for: terms for witchcraft or possession that safeguarding bodies list as warning signs when they are applied to a child, such as "kindoki", "djinn", "juju" or "voodoo" [source: Met Police]. The term alone is not proof of risk. It is working when you can state the client's explanatory model and the client agrees with your summary.

4.3 Telling spiritual distress apart from illness, without dismissing either

  • Purpose / when: When the experiences attributed to spirits include hearing voices, feeling controlled, dissociation, seizures, intrusive blasphemous thoughts, nightmares, panic or self-harm.
  • Steps:
    1. Take a full mental-state and medical history. Ask about onset, sleep, substances, head injury, seizures and family history.
    2. Explore whether the experiences match what the client's own community considers normal ("would others in your church see it this way?").
    3. Screen for psychosis, mania, severe depression, PTSD, dissociative disorders, OCD and epilepsy. Refer for medical or psychiatric assessment where indicated.
    4. If the main focus is a religious or spiritual problem rather than a disorder, record it as such (DSM-5-TR lists it as a focus of clinical attention, code Z65.8).
    5. Share your view in both frames: a treatable condition can sit alongside the client's faith.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Your faith matters here, and so does your health. Whatever this is spiritually, the sleeplessness and voices are things a doctor can help with. Would you be willing to have both looked at?"
  • Watch for: delay in care because symptoms are read only spiritually. Church guidance itself warns that deliverance may be inappropriate for, and potentially harmful to, people with some mental disorders [source: CofE e-Manual 4.1]. It is working when the client accepts medical assessment without feeling their faith has been attacked.

4.4 Safety screen of the deliverance setting

  • Purpose / when: Whenever the client, or a child in their care, is undergoing or considering deliverance. Physical-risk features include violence, restraint, deprivation, isolation, or ministry to children or distressed adults without safeguards.
  • Steps:
    1. Ask in plain terms what happens during ministry: whether anyone has been held down, struck, kept from food, water or sleep, kept from school or work, or isolated.
    2. Ask whether a child has been called a witch, possessed, "evil" or the cause of misfortune.
    3. Compare what the client describes with published safeguards. The Church of England requires bishop's authorisation for formal rites, at least two ministers, medical consultation, consent and written parental consent for under-16s. It names beating, drowning, repeated intense rituals, restraint, starvation or other privation as violent practices requiring police contact where risk is immediate. [source: CofE e-Manual 4.1; House of Bishops Guidelines]
    4. If any child is at risk, follow the safeguarding steps in 4.10 and the harm account. If an adult is at risk, follow adult safeguarding procedures.
  • Example language (illustrative): "I ask everyone who goes through this kind of prayer some safety questions. Has anything during the prayer ever hurt you, frightened you, or made you feel you couldn't leave?"
  • Watch for: minimising ("they only held my arms"); a child described as the source of the family's problems. It is working when risks are named and acted on, and the client still trusts you.

4.5 Accommodation in scheduling and treatment

  • Purpose / when: When church services, prayer nights, fasting periods or ministry meetings affect sessions or treatment.
  • Steps:
    1. Ask about the client's regular commitments and plan sessions around them.
    2. Agree how therapy will run if the client undergoes ministry, for example a check-in after any session that leaves them distressed.
    3. Where faith shapes treatment choices, such as reluctance to take medicines, discuss it openly and refer medicine questions to the prescriber.
    4. Offer to include faith-consistent coping, such as the client's own prayer or scripture, where the client chooses it. [synthesis]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's fit our sessions around your church week. If anything at a prayer meeting leaves you shaken, can we agree you'll let me know?"
  • Watch for: pressure to stop medicines or therapy as a "lack of faith". It is working when attendance is steady and the client does not feel forced to choose.

4.6 Health issues routed to the doctor

  • Purpose / when: When deliverance involves fasting, all-night prayer and sleep loss, physical exertion or restraint, or when illness has been framed as spiritual.
  • Steps:
    1. Ask in general terms about fasting, sleep and exertion around ministry. Do not set or comment on fasting lengths.
    2. Note medical conditions where fasting or sleep loss carries risk, such as diabetes, pregnancy, eating disorders, epilepsy and bipolar disorder, and refer to the GP for advice.
    3. Where a physical illness has been called demonic "torment" (Prince lists cancer and arthritis), support the client in keeping medical treatment. [source: Derek Prince page; synthesis]
    4. Never advise on medicines. Refer to the prescriber.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Fasting and long nights of prayer can affect blood sugar, mood and sleep. Would you be willing to check with your doctor how to do this safely with your condition?"
  • Watch for: denial of food, water or sleep to a child, which is a safeguarding matter [source: Met Police; Channel 4 News 2012]; manic switch after sleep loss; stopping medicines. It is working when the GP is involved and the client keeps medical care.

4.7 Scrupulosity and moral injury

  • Purpose / when: For clients who fear they are demonised, have "opened a door" to evil, or have unforgiven sin, and who check, confess, seek reassurance or repeatedly seek ministry. Also for clients who took part in harmful ministry and carry guilt.
  • Steps:
    1. Assess for OCD with religious themes: intrusive blasphemous or sexual thoughts, fear of possession, compulsive prayer, confession or reassurance-seeking. Teaching that repeated sin "is a demon" [source: Derek Prince page] can feed this cycle for some clients. [synthesis]
    2. If OCD is present, offer exposure and response prevention adapted to the faith. Agree exposure targets that stay within the client's religious norms, and reduce compulsive confession, prayer and reassurance-seeking. With consent, consult the client's religious authority on what the tradition actually requires. [synthesis]
    3. Screen and get consent before exposure. Do not use exposure while acute risk, psychosis or active abuse is present.
    4. For moral injury, for example a parent or church member who took part in harming someone, explore guilt and responsibility. Coordinate with legal and safeguarding processes and do not offer absolution.
  • Example language (illustrative): "It sounds as if each prayer brings a few minutes of relief, then the fear comes back stronger. That pattern is something we can work on together, and we can check with your minister what your faith actually asks of you."
  • Watch for: escalation into seeking ever more ministry; self-harm; therapy itself turning into reassurance. It is working when compulsions drop and the client lives by their values with less fear.

4.8 Grief, ritual and community support

  • Purpose / when: When deliverance has failed to bring relief, has divided a family, or has led to the client leaving a church. Also after a death or serious harm connected to it.
  • Steps:
    1. Name the losses: community, certainty, relationships, sometimes faith itself.
    2. Help the client find safe sources of support, which may include a different congregation.
    3. Use the client's own rituals, such as prayer or memorials, if they choose them.
    4. For traumatic bereavement, use trauma-focused grief work.
  • Example language (illustrative): "You've lost a church that was family to you. What did it give you that you'd want to find again somewhere safe?"
  • Watch for: isolation, complicated grief, and spiritual struggle ("God abandoned me"). It is working when the client rebuilds support and meaning.

4.9 Collaboration with clergy and deliverance advisers, when the client wishes

  • Purpose / when: When the client wants their minister involved, or a church asks the therapist for input. The Church of England model expects consultation with doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists, and diocesan deliverance advisers. [source: House of Bishops Guidelines; CofE e-Manual 4.1]
  • Steps:
    1. Get informed consent: who, what will be shared, and for what purpose.
    2. Find out the church's oversight: is there a bishop, diocesan adviser, safeguarding lead or denominational body?
    3. Share only what is relevant, such as diagnosis and risk, framed for a non-clinical reader.
    4. Agree roles: the minister offers spiritual care, the clinician offers treatment, the GP oversees health.
    5. Do not give "clearance" for a rite. Clinical advice to a church covers capacity, risk and mental-health status, not spiritual matters.
  • Example language (illustrative), to a minister: "With [client]'s permission, I'm writing because they value your support. From a health point of view, they are being treated for a condition that stress and sleep loss can worsen, so calm, brief and consensual pastoral contact is most helpful."
  • Watch for: clergy pushing to override treatment; dual roles if you share the client's church; a church with no safeguarding lead. It is working when the client feels supported on both sides.

4.10 Children and families: safeguarding, consent and assent

  • Purpose / when: When a child is accused of witchcraft or possession, is being taken for deliverance, or lives in a home where such beliefs are causing fear.
  • Steps:
    1. Ask about faith and belief routinely in family assessment. National FGM Centre question guides for social workers and multi-agency professionals support this. [source: National FGM Centre]
    2. Listen to the child alone where appropriate. Ask whether anyone has called them bad, evil or possessed.
    3. If there is concern, follow local safeguarding procedures and refer to children's social care. In London, the police can advise through Project Violet. If a child is at immediate risk, call the police. [source: Met Police; CofE e-Manual 4.1]
    4. Consent and assent: a parent's consent does not make harmful practice acceptable. Children's own views must be heard. The Church of England requires written parental consent for formal rites on under-16s and a competence assessment for 16–17-year-olds. [source: CofE e-Manual 4.1]
    5. Offer parenting support and services for disability or behaviour problems, which the national action plan identifies as protective. [source: national action plan 2012]
  • Example language (illustrative), to a child: "Sometimes grown-ups say children are bad or have something evil in them. Has anyone ever said anything like that to you?"
  • Watch for: see the harm account. It is working when the child is safe, is heard and stays in school.

4.11 Role boundaries and the therapist's own beliefs

  • Purpose / when: Throughout, and especially when a client asks the therapist to pray, to confirm a demon, or to say whether deliverance is real.
  • Steps:
    1. Decline spiritual roles warmly and offer to connect the client with their own minister.
    2. Decide in supervision whether and how to disclose your own faith. Disclose only if it serves the client.
    3. Avoid dual relationships if you attend the same church or network.
    4. Seek training in religious and spiritual competencies. [synthesis; Vieten et al. 2013, uncertain: not verified]
  • Example language (illustrative): "Whether there is a spirit at work isn't something I can judge. That's a question for your faith and your minister. What I can do is help with the fear and the sleeplessness."
  • Watch for: the client experiencing refusal as rejection; your own wish to rescue or convert. It is working when the client can use both kinds of help.

5. Handling problems

All guidance in this section is [synthesis] unless a source is tagged.

  • Client insists the problem is only spiritual and refuses medical assessment. Do not argue. Ask whether their tradition objects to doctors; many do not. The Church of England expects medical consultation before formal rites [source: CofE e-Manual 4.1], and naming this can help. Keep the door open, assess risk, and, with consent, involve a trusted minister who supports treatment.
  • Pressure from family or church to undergo repeated ministry. Explore what the client wants. Rehearse ways to say no. Screen for coercion and for safeguarding concerns (see 4.4). Repeated intense rituals are named as a harmful practice in Church of England guidance. [source: CofE e-Manual 4.1]
  • Overwhelm or new symptoms after ministry. Use grounding and stabilisation, and check sleep, food and safety. Assess for psychosis, dissociation or trauma symptoms and refer urgently if needed. Agree a plan for future ministry with the client.
  • Client believes the therapist is part of the "attack", or that therapy is ungodly. Name the rupture. Clarify your role and limits. Offer to involve the client's minister or a faith-matched clinician. Keep the client's autonomy central.
  • Non-adherence to medicines or appointments because of church teaching. Avoid power struggles. Coordinate with the prescriber and explore the client's own values. Where possible, use consent-based clergy collaboration.
  • Client is a parent who believes their child is possessed. This is a safeguarding situation. Be clear and compassionate: explain your duty, refer, and stay engaged with the parent where it is safe to do so. Fear for the child is often sincere, and perpetrators may "perversely believe that they are doing the right thing". [source: national action plan 2012]
  • Client was harmed by deliverance and now distrusts all faith or all helpers. Use trauma-informed pacing and validate both the harm and any remaining faith. Do not push the client to leave or to return to faith.
  • Therapist discomfort (fear, ridicule or over-identification). Take it to supervision and consult colleagues from the client's culture or faith where possible.
  • Children in the room, or a church asks you to "clear" a child for ministry. Decline to clear anyone. Follow safeguarding procedures, and direct the church to its denominational safeguarding lead and to Thirtyone:eight. [source: Met Police]

Safety flag: in any of the situations above, if there is restraint, beating, deprivation of food, water or sleep, isolation, or a child labelled "evil", stop and follow the safeguarding steps in the harm account.

Harm account

This account covers practices that safeguarding bodies and courts link to belief in spirit possession and witchcraft. Most deliverance ministry does not involve them, and only a small minority of believers abuse children. [source: national action plan 2012; Met Police] No victims or private individuals are named.

What was actually done

  • The accusation. A child, usually within the family home, is labelled a witch, possessed or "evil". Sometimes a pastor or other influential figure confirms or instigates the label. The child is then blamed for misfortune such as poverty, illness, divorce or death. [source: national action plan 2012; CWRC rapid review 2012; Met Police]
  • Who is singled out. Most often children who are "different": disabled children, including those with epilepsy, autism, a stammer, deafness or learning disabilities; children with challenging behaviour, bedwetting or nightmares; unusually bright children; children living away from their birth parents, in extended, step, foster or private-fostering households, including recently arrived children; and LGBTQ+ young people. [source: CWRC rapid review 2012; Met Police]
  • The "deliverance" or "exorcism" violence. Safeguarding bodies list the following [source: Met Police; CWRC review, citing Stobart's analysis of 38 UK cases]:
    • physical: ritualised beating, burning, cutting, stabbing, semi-strangulation, tying up or restraint, and harmful substances applied to the eyes or genitals;
    • emotional: isolation, threats of abandonment, and convincing the child that they are possessed;
    • neglect: starving, bath-sleeping, keeping the child off school, and withholding medical care.
    Church of England guidance lists beating, drowning, repeated intense rituals, restraint, and starvation or other privation as violent "exorcism" practices. [source: CofE e-Manual 4.1]
  • UK scale. A 2006 study commissioned by the Department for Education found 38 cases involving 47 children between 2000 and 2005, most of them in London. Under-reporting is likely. [source: national action plan 2012; CWRC review]
  • Deaths reported by courts and major news. None of the victims is named here.
    • London, 2012 (Old Bailey). A teenage boy visiting relatives over Christmas was accused of bringing kindoki (witchcraft) into the home. Over several days he was made to pray for "deliverance", denied food and water, beaten with weapons, and held under water in a bath, and he died. His sister and her partner were convicted of murder. Siblings were also beaten until they "confessed" to being witches. [source: Channel 4 News, 1 March 2012]
    • KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, 2020 (convictions 2024). Two children aged nine and ten were killed after adults who believed they were possessed invited a pastor to pray over them. During the prayers the children were beaten and burned. The pastor, a mother and another woman were convicted of murder. [source: Business Report/IOL, 21 August 2024]
    • San Jose, California, 2021. According to the AP report, a three-year-old died of asphyxiation at a small Pentecostal church during what relatives called a ceremony to free her from an evil spirit. AP reported that relatives, including the grandfather, who was the church's pastor, were charged. These are reported charges only; the outcome of the case is [uncertain: not verified]. [source: AP via KION, 13 May 2022]
    • Adults. In Birmingham in 2012, four relatives were convicted of murdering a pregnant young woman. Evidence was that they had tried to drive out a harmful "jinn". This was a possession belief framed in Islamic terms rather than Christian deliverance. Ruqya is covered in its own guide (XI 049). [source: The Scotsman, 25 September 2012] Court-reported adult deaths in Christian deliverance are not covered by the sources consulted. [uncertain: not verified]
  • Earlier UK cases. Earlier cases, including a child death in 2000 that led to a national inquiry, and other publicised cases, prompted the Metropolitan Police to set up Project Violet. [source: CWRC review]

How it caused harm

  • Direct injury and death from beating, burning, cutting, strangulation, drowning, restraint and starvation. [source: Met Police; Channel 4 News 2012; Business Report 2024]
  • Psychological harm. Being told one is evil or possessed, isolated and threatened with abandonment can cause confusion, withdrawal and fear. A weak bond with carers develops. Siblings who are forced to watch or take part are also traumatised; in the KwaZulu-Natal case, other children in the household needed counselling. [source: Met Police; Business Report 2024]
  • Missed illness and disability. Epilepsy, autism, deafness, mental illness and serious illness were read as spiritual signs, so children went without medical care. [source: CWRC review; Met Police]
  • Exploitation. Children labelled in this way are more vulnerable to sexual abuse. Fear of the supernatural is also used to control trafficked children. [source: Met Police; national action plan 2012]
  • Why carers do it. Perpetrators may believe they are "driving out the devil" and doing right. Families under pressure may be open to exploitation by religious figures, and fear that a possessed child will "infect" others drives escalation. [source: national action plan 2012; CWRC review; Met Police]
  • Most at risk: disabled or "different" children, children in complex or non-biological households, newly arrived children, and distressed or mentally ill adults. [source: CWRC review; Met Police; CofE e-Manual 4.1]

Recognising it today

  • Signs in a child [source: Met Police]:
    • injuries, including old scarring;
    • the child says they are "evil" or are being beaten to remove the devil;
    • terms such as "kindoki", "djinn", "juju" or "voodoo";
    • confusion, withdrawal or isolation;
    • hunger or weight loss;
    • a weak bond with carers;
    • irregular school attendance, or removal from school with no new place arranged;
    • unusual jewellery, items or scripts.
  • Red flags in a church or a colleague's practice [synthesis, drawing on CofE e-Manual 4.1 and House of Bishops Guidelines]:
    • ministry to children without parental consent, safeguarding lead or oversight;
    • holding people down;
    • prolonged or repeated sessions;
    • fasting or sleep loss imposed on others;
    • discouraging medical care or medicines;
    • naming a child as the cause of family problems;
    • secrecy;
    • deliverance aimed at sexual orientation or gender identity, which the Church of England prohibits;
    • charges for "deliverance".
  • How safeguarded practice differs. The Church of England model includes bishop's authorisation; never ministering alone; medical consultation; consent, capacity checks and written parental consent for under-16s; courteous language and touch; confidential records; and complaint routes. [source: House of Bishops Guidelines; CofE e-Manual 4.1] These safeguards do not make any rite a health treatment. [synthesis]

What to do instead and how to help those harmed

  • Safeguarding duties. Concerns about abuse linked to belief follow the same child protection procedures as any other abuse, and these "must always be followed". Everyone who works with children must recognise and act on concerns. [source: national action plan 2012]
    • Refer to children's social care. Call the police if a child is in immediate danger. [source: CofE e-Manual 4.1]
    • In London, Project Violet gives advice on referrals and investigations. [source: Met Police]
    • For adults at risk, use adult safeguarding procedures. [synthesis]
    • Record the faith or belief element explicitly; the 2012 review found such cases are rarely recorded. [source: CWRC review]
  • Assessment. Use the National FGM Centre's guidance on exploring concerns around faith and belief, its question guides for social workers and multi-agency professionals, its terminology guide and its infographic for exploring concerns with children. Assess holistically: the child's needs, parenting capacity, and family and community context. [source: National FGM Centre; CWRC review]
  • Treatment of those harmed [synthesis]:
    • Use trauma-focused therapy for PTSD.
    • Use attachment-informed work with safe carers.
    • Take a disability-aware approach.
    • Address shame ("I was evil") directly.
    • Respect any faith the person keeps.
    • Offer support as a court witness. The national action plan calls for special measures and therapeutic support for victims. [source: national action plan 2012]
  • Working with churches. Faith leaders are "part of the solution". The plan endorses church safeguarding protocols, pledges and training, and it supports action against "rogue pastors". [source: national action plan 2012]
    • Point churches to Thirtyone:eight (Christian safeguarding charity), AFRUCA, the National FGM Centre and their denomination's safeguarding lead. [source: Met Police]
    • In Church of England settings, the diocesan safeguarding adviser and the diocesan deliverance team are the points of contact. [source: CofE e-Manual 4.1]
  • Safer alternatives for the person seeking help [synthesis]:
    • Medical and psychiatric assessment.
    • Evidence-based therapy.
    • Pastoral care, such as ordinary prayer and Holy Communion, which Church of England guidance treats as unrestricted, given within an accountable church with safeguarding in place.
    • Parenting and disability support for families. [source: national action plan 2012; CofE e-Manual 4.1]

Sources

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