A series of social, economic and political forces have highlighted inadequacies in many current welfare practices and arrangements leading to a growing consensus that the welfare system needs to be reformed. However, social change in human service organisations generally, and child welfare services in particular, has proven to be difficult to achieve and sustain. A greater engagement of these agencies and their workers in the planning and implementation of reforms has been presented as a key strategy to overcome this resistance and achieve mutually satisfying service outcomes. This paper argues that participative evaluation models that deliberately and genuinely involve personnel and external agencies in understanding and assessing the reform process can contribute to the enhanced uptake of social change initiatives. Drawing on the experiences of a current, Queensland child welfare reform initiative, underpinned by a strong participatory evaluation component, the paper provides some preliminary evidence of a shift in service practice and orientation in both local community and departmental operational levels. The paper concludes with some insights into the implications of the change process for both community and government actors
