Implications of this study for policy and practice

This final chapter of the book steps back from the detailed scrutiny of different aspects of the fieldwork to consider overarching insights from across the Innovate Project, with reference to: (1) innovation theory and practice in social care; (2) the particular intricacies of developing/introducing new systems and interventions to address extra-familial risks and harms; and (3) critical perspectives on conceptions of childhood, risk, vulnerability and public funding mechanisms. The authors consider the distinctive nature of innovating in the field of adolescent safeguarding, particularly how system capabilities and innovation processes operate at the interface of children’s and adult social care, the multi-agency safeguarding and criminal justice systems, and the voluntary and charitable sector. The chapter identifies the insights that support and align with existing literature and those that offer new insights and ways forward. Implications for innovation practice in other countries with a similar conception of social work, social care and child welfare are considered.