We share findings across our four-year CAFADA study about innovative practice in domestic abuse services for children and families.  Innovation is defined as the introduction of new ways of working adopted to transform, sustain or enhance the performance and effectiveness of the social care sector (Graham & White 2014). An approach is considered innovative if it demands new ways of thinking or acting, if this novelty is intended to enhance operational capacity, improve collaboration or increase efficiencies, and if it aims to improve outcomes for children and families in contact with social care (LeFevre et al, 2024).   In CAFADA we explored various innovations across the UK focussing on whole family approaches, recovery interventions and criminal justice responses. Our approach itself was innovative, involving the participation of children, young people and families in our research approach and exploring participation in the design, delivery and evaluation of ‘innovative’ services. Domestic abuse service provision is dominated by a pressure to innovate, a pressure largely exerted through the levers of competitive tendering to fund work across the sector.  Here we explore the meaning of innovation in the context of domestic abuse services, the impact of innovation and the drive to innovate, and consider the potential for a model of innovation that is feminist and relational, children’s rights based and participatory.