rship team, practitioners, agencies, and where appropriate, children and families? (Acceptability defined as having buy-in from the different groups locally) There was strong buy-in to the aims and ambitions of FFCP across Waves 1 and 2, especially among Education partners. Strategic leads in local areas found the FFCP approach aligned with the strategic direction that local Children’s Social Care (CSC) was already progressing in. However, the research reflected some concerns from delivery teams on the increased workload and team capacity, and holding risk for alternatively qualified staff12. FFCP objectives and delivery approach were found to be well understood across Wave 1 and Wave 2 areas. However, some stakeholders in partner agencies expressed concerns around the lack of clarity on their role. Perceptions and understanding of the FFCP The three phases of qualitative research (May ’24, November ’24 and February ’25) reflected shared understanding of the FFCP across Local Authority, Health, Education and Police teams. They reflected that the strategic ambitions of the programme were to drive change in Children’s Services and improve outcomes for children and families. Their reflections of the key programme elements included multi-agency working and a whole system approach; a greater role for Education; a new way of working with families with greater emphasis on family voice and networks. They recognised that the programme ultimately aims to reduce the need for crisis intervention and keep children with their families when it’s safe to do so. 12 Alternatively qualified staff is the term used for Children’s Social Care staff who are not social work qualified 23 "Everybody's aware what Pathfinder is. They know what the aims are. They know what we're trying to achieve, 