The term "community nurses" refers to all nurses employed in community settings such as health centers, community teams, and community projects, in contrast to hospital-based nurses. The focus of this research was on community nurses' and their managers' understanding of their professional responsibility regarding child protection, the training needs of community nurses in child protection, and their support and supervision needs. Since findings on training, support, and supervision have been reported elsewhere, this paper focuses on the findings regarding clinical supervision. Ninety-nine nurses and nursing managers were interviewed about their professional involvement in child protection matters, support for their involvement in child protection work, their current knowledge of child protection issues, and perceived training needs in this field. There was a lack of consensus among nurses and managers about what constitutes clinical supervision, and there was significant variation in nurses' experiences of clinical supervision in the field of child protection. Both nurses and their managers expressed the need for formal, regular, systematic supervision for all nurses, regardless of their specific involvement in child protection matters. This supervision would provide them with a forum to discuss any child protection issues that might arise. Such supervision should be included in job descriptions. Further, the supervision should occur in the course of the working day, so as to reinforce the view that it is a central aspect of nursing practice. 36 references