Association of Child Protection Professionals

Association of Child Protection Professionals The Association of Child Protection Professionals (previously known as BASPCAN) is a registered charity and membership association.

If you have any concerns regarding a child please call the NSPCC Help Line on 0808 800 5000.

From the start of this new academic year, state schools in England are expected to be mobile phone-free by default, and ...
11/08/2026

From the start of this new academic year, state schools in England are expected to be mobile phone-free by default, and Ofsted is now looking at how well those policies work in practice.

But a phone-free school day answers a question about behaviour and attainment. It does not, on its own, settle a safeguarding one. What happens on the commute, at home, and in the spaces adults do not see?

On Wednesday 3 September, 12.00 to 1.30pm, our Lunch & Learn asks a sharper question: are smartphones in school a child protection issue at all?

Co-chaired by Steve Myers, Dr Sam Warner and Dr Ciarán Murphy, the session brings together a deliberately mixed panel, including academics, a national anti-bullying charity, a psychologist and behavioural change expert, a radio documentary maker, and a former BBC News journalist now leading the campaign for smartphone-free schools. The aim is not to arrive at a single view, but to weigh both sides and consider where the safeguarding responsibility actually sits.

Relevant for anyone working across education, health, social work and online safety.

Members: free. Standard: £15.
Book: https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/events/lunch-learn-are-smartphones-in-school-a-child-protection-issue/

10/08/2026

If your commute or summer walk needs some company, our podcast archive is free to listen to and full of conversations that still hold up.

Over the years we have spoken with a wide range of voices across the sector, including Dr Emma Katz on coercive control, Professor Brid Featherstone on poverty and child protection, Jahnine Davis on equality, diversity and inclusion in safeguarding, and Dr Rob Ewin on interview practices in policing. Each episode sits somewhere between professional development and a good listen.

The podcast is one of the more open doors into what we do. If it prompts you to go further, AoCPP membership opens up the fuller picture: the recordings library, the journal Child Abuse Review, Special Interest Groups and a multidisciplinary community.

Listen via our News and Podcasts page: https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/blog-news/
More on membership: https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/membership/

Looking for CPD you can do at your own pace over the summer?Our online shop holds a growing library of recorded sessions...
09/08/2026

Looking for CPD you can do at your own pace over the summer?

Our online shop holds a growing library of recorded sessions from past Lunch and Learns, Special Interest Groups and conferences, available to download and watch whenever suits you. The catalogue runs to dozens of recorded sessions spanning much of the breadth of safeguarding practice, from relational and contextual approaches, to neglect, digital safeguarding, child sexual abuse prevention and practice with specific communities.

All sessions are free to members, with most sessions at £15 for non-members, and each is a self-contained piece of learning you can return to, share with a team, or use towards your CPD before the new year gets under way.

Browse the full library: https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/shop/

07/08/2026

With the new term approaching, some of our autumn programme is now open for booking, running from September through to November.

The line-up brings together questions practitioners are navigating right now. September opens with a Lunch and Learn on whether smartphones in schools are a child protection issue (3 September), followed by Special Interest Group sessions on the needs of autistic children referred to Prevent (8 September), learning from the Child Safeguarding Review Panel (10 September), practitioner-led research (15 September), and safeguarding practice within Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities (17 September).

Looking further ahead, October and November include a Special Interest Group on digital voice and lived experience with Julie Nicholson (20 October), a members' session on the new 2026 child protection and safeguarding policy and statutory guidance and what it means for practice (5 November), and a Digital Safeguarding SIG on innovation, creativity and security (10 November).

Sessions are held online, with space to ask questions and reflect together. Take a look at the full programme and book your place.

Events: https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/events

With the new term approaching, our autumn programme is now open for booking, running from September through to November....
06/08/2026

With the new term approaching, our autumn programme is now open for booking, running from September through to November.

The line-up brings together questions practitioners are navigating right now. September opens with a Lunch and Learn on whether smartphones in schools are a child protection issue (3 September), followed by Special Interest Group sessions on the needs of autistic children referred to Prevent (8 September), learning from the Child Safeguarding Review Panel (10 September), practitioner-led research (15 September), and safeguarding practice within Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities (17 September).

Looking further ahead, October and November include a Special Interest Group on digital voice and lived experience with Julie Nicholson (20 October), a members' session on the new 2026 child protection and safeguarding policy and statutory guidance and what it means for practice (5 November), and a Digital Safeguarding SIG on innovation, creativity and security (10 November).

Sessions are held online, with space to ask questions and reflect together. Take a look at the full programme and book your place.

Events: https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/events

Our events are now on summer break so we're looking ahead! September's programme brings together a thoughtful set of ses...
04/08/2026

Our events are now on summer break so we're looking ahead! September's programme brings together a thoughtful set of sessions on some of the questions practitioners are navigating in everyday safeguarding work, from the classroom to serious case learning.

In September, our groups explore:

📱 Are smartphones in school a child protection issue?
Wednesday 3 September, 12:00pm | Lunch & Learn
A timely discussion on what the new school smartphone restrictions mean for safeguarding, and how we hold both the intent behind them and the complexities for vulnerable children.

🧩 Exploring the needs of autistic children referred to Prevent
Tuesday 8 September, 12:00pm | Joint SIG with Dr Lucy Warner
Practice Learning Reviews and Neurodiversity come together to consider how autistic children are understood and responded to within Prevent.

🔍 Revisiting Beyond Blame, through a contextual lens
Thursday 10 September, 12:30pm | Practice Learning Reviews SIG with Adrian Spanswick & Wendy Thorogood
Reflecting on the work of the Child Safeguarding Review Panel and wider serious incidents, and what a contextual understanding offers our learning.

📚 Practitioner-led research in child protection
Tuesday 15 September, 1:00pm | Lunch & Learn with Laura Tucker & Professor Robbie Duschinsky
Options, opportunities and approaches for practitioners considering research grounded in their own practice.

🤝 Child protection, social justice and safeguarding within Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities
Wednesday 17 September, 9:30am | SIG with Allison Hulmes & Dr Dan Allen
Exploring culturally competent, anti-oppressive practice and the structural issues that shape safeguarding in these communities.

Each session is designed to support reflection, strengthen practice and create space for discussion across our multidisciplinary community.

Members: free | Non-members: £15

Take a look at the full line-up and book your place: https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/events/

The summer months often bring a little more space to think. If there is learning you meant to get to during a busy year,...
03/08/2026

The summer months often bring a little more space to think. If there is learning you meant to get to during a busy year, our Special Interest Group recordings are a good place to start.

Recordings of all previous SIG meetings are available to members in the members' area, covering the breadth of child protection and safeguarding practice. Sessions span subjects including:

- Child sexual abuse and harmful sexual behaviour
- Domestic violence and abuse
- Youth justice and child exploitation
- Neurodiversity, SEND and safeguarding disabled children
- Digital safeguarding
- Care experience
- Culture, race and ethnicity in child protection
- Child protection in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities
- Safeguarding in sport
- Learning from practice reviews

Each session brings researchers and practitioners together around a single area of practice, with space for discussion and professional curiosity. The quieter weeks of summer are a good opportunity to work through them at your own pace, and to count them towards your CPD.

The full catalogue is free for members. If you are not yet a member, you can join from £10 a month and open up the recordings library alongside the journal Child Abuse Review, fortnightly members' meetings and our events programme.

Browse the Special Interest Groups: https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/special-interest-groups/
Join us: https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/membership/

02/08/2026

If summer offers a little more time to read, our journal is a good place to spend it.

Child Abuse Review has sat at the cutting edge of the field since 1992, examining emerging forms of harm from technology-facilitated abuse to abuse in sport and child trafficking, always with a practice-relevant focus. It is published six times a year, with additional special and virtual issues, and now includes a CPD section written by experienced practitioners.

The quieter weeks are a good opportunity to return to reading you may have set aside during a busy term. Reading widely and reflectively is part of how practice stays current, curious and grounded in evidence.

Child Abuse Review is included with membership at no extra cost. You can find out more here: https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/child-abuse-review/

A new term is on the horizon, which makes it a good moment to think about what will support your practice through the ye...
01/08/2026

A new term is on the horizon, which makes it a good moment to think about what will support your practice through the year ahead.

Membership of the Association of Child Protection Professionals connects you with a multidisciplinary community and includes unlimited access to our CPD and networking events, fortnightly members' meetings, Special Interest Groups, a voice in our policy responses, and the journal Child Abuse Review at no extra cost.

Membership starts from just £10 a month, because good, evidence-informed learning should not be out of reach for the people doing this work.

If the start of a new professional year feels like the right time to invest in your development and stay connected to good practice, you can find out what is included and join here: https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/membership/

Rest is part of the work, even if it rarely feels like it.Child protection and safeguarding ask a great deal of the peop...
31/07/2026

Rest is part of the work, even if it rarely feels like it.

Child protection and safeguarding ask a great deal of the people who do it. The emotional weight of holding risk, sitting with distress and making difficult decisions does not always switch off at the end of the day, or at the start of a holiday.

If the quieter weeks of summer offer any space to step back, that space matters. Rest is not a reward for finishing the work. It is part of what makes the work sustainable.

It also helps to know you are not carrying it alone. AoCPP members meet fortnightly on topics chosen by the membership, sharing learning and perspectives with others across social work, health, education, policing and the voluntary sector. Being understood by people who do this work is one of the things that sustains a long career.

You can see how our community supports members here: https://www.childprotectionprofessionals.org.uk/professional-support-development/

Address

17 Priory Street
York
YO16ET

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+44 (0) 1904 613605

Website

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