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Trust Relationships Between Children, Social Welfare Professionals and the Organisations of Welfare

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Participation, Citizenship and Trust in Children’s Lives

Part of the book series: Studies in Childhood and Youth ((SCY))

Abstract

This chapter explores the dynamics of trust between children and social welfare professionals. I argue that this is an important aspect of child welfare as trust is closely related to participation and child protection and is therefore one of the most significant areas of child welfare. This important area of trust has been under-theorised in relation to child welfare and protection. The chapter assesses some of the constraints in the process of development of trust by using examples of empirical data from social policy texts, interviews with welfare professionals and from consultation documents written up after participation events with groups of children who are Looked After1 in residential or foster care in the UK. Extracts from interviews and policy texts are used to illustrate some of the complexities and issues involved in building trust relations between children, young people and welfare professionals.

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© 2013 Sharon Pinkney

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Pinkney, S. (2013). Trust Relationships Between Children, Social Welfare Professionals and the Organisations of Welfare. In: Warming, H. (eds) Participation, Citizenship and Trust in Children’s Lives. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137295781_6

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