Commentary on Using Strengths-Based Leadership to Improve the Child Welfare System

This commentary reviews the design features and methods by which the Strengths Based Leadership model of the East Region of a county child welfare agency provides antidotes to the dilemmas typically faced by public agency street-level staff. Identifying worker strengths, increasing worker engagement in agency design, and clearly articulating goals and expectations—all features of productive relationships with client families, when employed by agency leadership—provide both the atmosphere and key supports for direct service staff to obtain positive outcomes for the children and families served