Our Vision

Where dogs and cats are free from abuse, neglect and abandonment, and where people recognise the joy that giving a rescue animal a second chance of a happy life and a new home can bring.

Our Mission

To improve the lives of dogs and cats by creating a welfare sector that rescues and rehomes to high standards, giving every lost, abandoned and unwanted dog and cat the care they deserve and the chance of a happy life.

Our Values

ADCH is committed to being:

Collaborative – Sharing knowledge for excellence
Respectful – Of animals and people
Inclusive – Together for dogs, cats and people too
Supportive – Helping Members to grow and develop
Proactive – Tackling issues, facilitating solutions

The Purposes of the Association are to:

• Develop good practice and influence others working in the rescue and/or rehoming of dogs and cats.
• Address common problems and issues.
• Explore and, where appropriate, negotiate price reductions through economies of scale.
• Exchange information and provide mutual support where practicable, which may include the movement of dogs and cats between organisations.
• Combine resources to encourage workable, welfare enhancing legislation.
• Exchange knowledge in construction and refurbishment of facilities.
• Where appropriate and agreed, represent the views of members to a wider audience.

A copy of our Constitution can be found here.

ADCH is committed to ensuring we deliver exceptional services to support our members in their vital work with animals.  The 2020 – 2024 Strategic Plan focuses on Three key Strategic threads:

Animal Welfare and Standards

Our primary focus remains on improved standards of care for our animals and supporting new and existing members to meet the provision requirements and grow their own services and rescues, to be the best they can be with the resources they have.

Member Engagement

Engaging and supporting our members is why we are here.  This Strategic thread focusses on developing stronger communication links and offerings for members.
It seeks to build on our online platform ‘ADCH Know-How’ and facilitate access to other learning and networking opportunities, which we know from our members’ feedback is most important to them.

Finance Governance and Risk

Ongoing robust and efficient financial, governance and risk management is a necessity for all organisations and ADCH is no different. With ever-increasing compliance and governance requirements, ADCH must ensure we have appropriate formal processes and policies in place and that our finances and operations remain legal, well-managed and that the Association is delivering value for our members.

Download the ADCH Strategic Plan 2020-2024

Download a copy of our Annual Report and Accounts below:

ADCH Annual Report and Accounts 2020

ADCH Annual Report and Accounts 2021

ADCH Annual Report and Accounts 2022