This paper examines the different contexts for leadership in children's services with a particular focus on integrated working. It reviews contemporary theories that appear to offer relevant frameworks for thinking about children's service leadership. It is argued that children's services require leadership at all levels to enable a dynamic, interactive service on the front line. Multi-professional team leadership is a crucial and much underestimated role in integrated services, which should be thinking in terms of leadership capacity throughout the organisation rather than focusing predominantly on the most senior roles in the hierarchy. (Contains 1 figure.)