The Association of Child Protection Professionals is a registered charity and membership association - the only one in the UK that  provides training, support and professional development opportunities for those working in child protection.

Read more about what we mean by "child protection".

Previously known as BASPCAN, we have been driving improvement in child protection for more than 40 years by working with experienced professionals to influence policy and practice.

BASPCAN was founded in 1979 by a group of leading child protection practitioners and academics and in 2019 we became the Association of Child Protection Professionals.

Read more about our 40 years as an association

The Latest Constitution can be viewed here.

Our Mission

Our mission is to improve the lives and safety of children by working with those in the sector to provide research, representation, training, and support.

Our Vision

Our vision is a world in which all children can grow up in safety and security, without risk of being abused or neglected.

Values

All the work and activities we undertake are based upon our core values and beliefs:

• Children’s rights: These are at the heart of everything we do to ensure that we continue to make a positive difference to improving the protection and well-being of children and young people.
• Professional needs: We respect the knowledge, experience, and expertise of child protection professionals and aim to focus on understanding and meeting their needs through our events and research. We aim to make this rigorous, authoritative and of excellent quality!
• Compassion and respect: We recognise the systemic, psychological, and emotional difficulties involved for all those in contact with or working in the child protection system. We model and promote compassion and respect in our organisation and in all aspects of our work.
• Social justice: We promote equality and inclusivity within our association and how we collaborate and support other organisations to ensure that social justice is core to what we do.
• Humility, integrity, and courage: We have humility to recognise the limitations of our achievements, and that we must continually learn, improve, and act to improve the lives of children. We have integrity to stay true to our charitable objectives, and courage to voice hard truths openly and honestly.

  

How we do it

• We use our events to offer training and professional development – covering a whole host of child protection subjects in various locations across the UK.
• We support professional networking locally, nationally, and internationally.
• We publish a high-impact journal, Child Abuse Review, providing access to the latest international research, practice developments, training initiatives, and policy issues.
• We call for improvements in systems, law, policy, and practice to improve child protection.
• We run a triennial international Congress .
• We publish a quarterly newsletter – highlighting key events, training, opportunities, and research.
• We offer membership to make the most of the above – special members rates for our events, subscription to Child Abuse Review, and the opportunity to be part of a like-minded community.