About us
Celebrating over 40 years at the heart of child protection.

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 across multiple disciplines within child protection and adult safeguarding. Through sharing knowledge, research and examples of best practice, what started as a small inter-professional membership association grew and today we are the only multi-disciplinary professional membership association, with charitable status, of its kind.

Find our latest constitution here.

Meet the team
Our History
Celebrating 40 years at the heart of child protection.
1979
We launched as BASPCAN (British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect). Created by a group of leading child protection practitioners and academics whose aim was to provide education and professional development opportunities for those working in the child protection field, whilst also seeking to educate and inform the public about safeguarding.
1980
The first edition of ‘BASPCAN News’ was published and we held our first AGM, and study day.
1985
The newsletter was renamed Child Abuse Review. Now a renowned inter-professional journal for research, practice, and policy in child maltreatment.
1991
We began holding a triennial congress, providing an opportunity for professionals from a range of disciplines from across the United Kingdom and internationally to share the latest findings from research, and to debate how families may be supported and children kept safe.
2019
We celebrated our 40th anniversary with an event in York entitled '40 years on…. celebrating innovative and excellent practice and research in child protection’. 
2020
We moved all activities online in response to COVID-19 and the changing needs of our membership.
2020
We changed our constitution to incorporate the field of adult safeguarding.
Our Mission
Our mission is to improve the lives and safety of children and vulnerable adults 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 and vulnerable adults can live in safety and security, without risk of being abused or neglected.
Our 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.
  • Supporting vulnerable adults: We recognise that the issues children and young people face do not stop when they reach adulthood. In fact, with fewer contact points with agencies and professionals, adults can become alienated from the avenues in which they can seek support, leaving them vulnerable to harm and exploitation. Through our work, we aim to ensure that we can make a positive difference in improving the lives of vulnerable adults.
  • Professional needs: We respect the knowledge, experience, and expertise of child protection and adult safeguarding 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!
  • Working in partnership: supporting leaders to challenge silo working and influence true holistic assessment and identification of risk. Many of our members are senior managers trying to implement complex local and national working arrangements.  We seek to support them to do this by identifying good practice and giving a platform to those involved in developing it.
  • Compassion and respect: We recognise the systemic, psychological, and emotional difficulties involved for all those in contact with or working in the child protection and adult safeguarding systems. 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 and vulnerable adults. We have integrity to stay true to our charitable objectives, and courage to voice hard truths openly and honestly.
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