OnDemand: The Preventing Child Abuse and Exploitation Conference 2026

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You can watch all the insights, key sessions, and expert discussions from The Preventing Child Abuse and Exploitation Conference 2026 by purchasing our OnDemand Event. Access full recordings of every session, including presentations from leading industry speakers, and watch at your own pace.

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• Watch on your own schedule – no need to clear your calendar or worry about time zones
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Access this conference OnDemand today for £245 here.

2026 Overview

Every day, children are harmed in homes, schools, communities, and online spaces, often hidden in plain sight. While reported cases continue to rise, professionals know the true scale of abuse is far greater than the data suggests. In response, the UK has introduced landmark reforms: the new Child Protection Authority and the Freedom from Violence and Abuse Strategy to tackle child exploitation and ensure stronger and quicker support for victims. These developments mark a pivotal moment in safeguarding, signalling a shift from reactive responses to proactive, system-wide protection, however:

• Children make up only 20% of the population but are the victims in 40% of all sexual offences recorded by the police. (Gov UK, 2025)
• 13.6 million people aged 18 years and over (29.0%) had experienced “any abuse” before the age of 18 years (ONS, 2024)
• 300 million+ children under the age of 18 have been affected by online child sexual exploitation and abuse in the last 12 months worldwide (WeProtect, 2024)

The Preventing Child Abuse Conference 2026: Keeping Children Safe from Harm explored the latest policy updates, evidence-based prevention strategies, and practical interventions. Hear from leading experts, connect with senior colleagues from public, voluntary, and statutory sectors, and engage in discussions that will help you turn national strategy into frontline action. This conference is your opportunity to understand emerging risks, strengthen multi-agency collaboration, and ensure children are protected before harm occurs.

2026 Agenda

• 9.45am

  Chair’s Opening Remarks

  Dr Tracee Green, Head of the Centre for Child Protection, University of Kent 

  

• 10.00am

  Keynote: Identifying and Responding to Child Abuse Effectively 

  • Ensuring quick identification of abuse or exploitation to minimise risk of harm
  • Supporting a child’s physical and emotional well-being during the process of reporting abuse and beyond
  • Outlining what steps to take when a referral is not made or the threshold for intervention is not met
  • Embedding trauma-informed, child-centred practice at every stage of identification and response

  Suzanne Taylor, Practice Improvement Advisor, Knowledge & Practice Development, The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse

  

• 10.30am

  Case Study: How DBS supports reducing the risk of harm to children

  • The role of DBS to support safeguarding of children.
  • An insight into the DBS Barred Lists.
  • How DBS assess whether an individual should be placed on a barred list.
  • The impact of being placed on one or both barred lists.

  Cathy Taylor, Head of Partnerships, Disclosure and Barring Service

  

• 10.50am

  Partner Session: Rethinking Safeguarding Judgements when working with parents with Learning Disabilities and Neurodiversity: Unprotective or Unsupported?

  • Capacity to be protective – how this may be difficult for a parent with an LD to understand professional concerns
  •  What the difficulties may look like
  •  Barriers when working with professionals
  •  How we can support parents to be protective

  Claire Connors, Senior Trainer, ParentAssess 

  

• 11.10am

  Questions & Answers 

• 11.30am

  Comfort Break

• 11.50am

  Keynote: Utilising Multi-Agency Working to Tackle Child Abuse and Exploitation

  • Using intelligence and local data to highlight hotspots, emerging threats, and periods of heightened risk
  • Incorporating victim and survivor experiences to inform proactive policing strategies and multi-agency interventions
  • Strengthening communication and operational protocols between agencies to improve early identification, investigation, and safeguarding outcomes
  • Ensuring that local multi-agency strategies and systems are in place so that children being exploited or at risk of exploitation get a timely response

  Androulla Vai Nicolaou, Child Exploitation Prevention Officer, Avon and Somerset Constabulary

  

• 12.10pm

  Case Study: Child Exploitation: Drawing Parallels Between County Lines Grooming and Radicalisation

  • Examining how children are coerced or groomed into criminal networks across counties
  • Understanding the drivers of county lines exploitation, including poverty, vulnerability, and social pressures
  • Identifying early warning signs and intervention points for schools, social services, and law enforcement
  • Multi-agency approaches to disrupt networks, protect children, and provide trauma-informed support
  • Insights from survivor experiences to inform prevention and rehabilitation strategies

  Jenna Ellis, Associate, Criminology Services 

  

• 12.30pm

  Questions & Answers 

• 12.50pm

  Lunch Break 

• 1.50pm

  Keynote: Centering the Voice of the Child

  • Exploring why children’s voices are still missed in safeguarding and child protection medical assessments
  • Understanding how fear, trauma, shame and power imbalance can create situational communication needs
  • Demonstrating how visual communication support can help children tell, draw or show their lived experience
  • Sharing learning from the My Voice Matters quality improvement project, co-designed with children and schools across South London
  • Presenting emerging multi-site pilot findings on improved communication support, clinical care and representation of children’s feelings, wishes and worries
  • Considering the rights-based case for making communication support available to every child, not only those with identified additional needs

  Dr Claire Stewart MBBS BSc MRCPCH, Paediatric Subspecialty Registrar, Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, National Trainee Representative, British Association for Community Child Health (BACCH) 

  

• 2.20pm

  Case Study: Understanding Trauma, Exploitation and Youth Violence: Preventing the Criminalisation of Vulnerable Young People

  • Understanding the links between trauma, exploitation, youth violence and the criminalisation of vulnerable young people
  • The importance of trauma-informed and lived experience-led approaches when engaging children and young people affected by abuse, violence and exploitation
  • The prevention work we deliver through our “What’s the Point?” programme, focused on early intervention, emotional intelligence, identity, belonging and reducing youth violence before young people enter the criminal justice system
  • Contextual safeguarding and the role communities, schools, youth services and professionals play in identifying risk and creating safer pathways for young people
  • Building genuine pathways into education, employment, creativity and purpose to reduce long-term harm and cycles of offending

  Molly Ellis, CEO & Co-Founder, Project Accountability

  

• 2.50pm

  Questions & Answers

• 3.10pm

  Chair’s Closing Remarks

  Dr Tracee Green, Head of the Centre for Child Protection, University of Kent 

  

• 3.20pm

  Conference Close 

Pricing Options

2026 Speakers

Karen Garland

Research and Policy Officer

Marie Collins Foundation

Megan Hinton

Victim and Survivor Advocate

Marie Collins Foundation

Ella Bradshaw

Policy and Public Affairs Officer

NSPCC

Testimonials

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