What is good leadership in child protection services?

The overarching aim of this research is to improve leadership and oversight of child protection services to enable a more stable, effective and cost-efficient workforce and better outcomes for children and families. A realist approach will be employed to explore how leadership is understood by social workers in children services. Mixed methods will be employed to examine the perspective of practitioners, managers, policy makers and service users. Through the research guidance and/or an intervention for improving leadership will be developed. In doing this, the research will necessarily be embracing a co-production approach, which will enhance practice and improve outcomes for children.