One Friday in early December for a conference about, as one parent, Kevin put it, ‘what power means for us.’ Surfacing Child and Family Power in Local Authority Children’s Services brought parents, carers and professionals both in and out of Camden together to consider what power means between different groups in social work contexts. Over the course of the morning, more than a hundred participants watched talks, videos and discussion circles reflecting on those presentations. Proceedings began with Annette who, as a social worker for Camden and a care-leaver, brought a few lenses of experience, demonstrated by several pairs of novelty sunglasses. She reflected on her experiences of the care system and spoke about the connection between professionals and young people in their care. Annette spoke about the unnatural and prescriptive way adults used to address her as a child in care. Everything changed for her when a social worker prioritised her voice, empowered her to lead her own meetings and fundamentally treated her with compassion and love. Annette’s presentation evoked sincere reactions from the panel, who spoke about whether to ‘surface power’ was really to ‘surface’ love. Another panellist, Rashida, spoke about finding a shared human experience to relate to the people she works with, from cooking to a person’s lovely hairstyle. The morning moved on to a video created by Camden’s Family Change Makers, a parent group that met online hailing from twelve Camden wards. After the video, the parents were invited to speak about their experience of the group. One parent spoke about how the group had given her strength back, the pandemic had shut her down, and the group ‘re-powered her’. Another parent hoped that the group’s legacy would create a material change in policy to help more people get the right ‘first experience’ of the service. A third parent and their child spoke about the value of parents' views being heard and teaming up to create a positive solution together.  A second video showed testimonies from parents and professionals on the subject of Child in Need conferences. The discussion considered the Camden model of social work and how systemic ideas show up in practice. One speaker, Esther, spoke about how Child in Need conferences are all about partnership, inviting families into decision making. A discussion about Camden Conversations rounded off the morning. This brief summary cannot begin to capture the wide range of contributions from professionals, families and those who shared their life experiences, but they will stick with all who attended for a long while.