Trust in Social work with children and youth

This research project takes its point of departure in children’s frustrations arising from distrust in social work. The overall aim is to examine trust in social work with children. It will seek to answer three questions:

1. How is trust built or damaged in the interaction between social workers and children, and what are the interconnections between trust, children’s participation in decision making and their sense of citizenship?

2. How is trust promoted or hindered through the institutional framing of social work?

3. What is the extend of experiences of trust and distrust among children at risk compared to other children?

The project adopts a multi-method approach of explorative child-lead workshops, document studies, observation, qualitative interviews and survey. It combines ‘in depth case analysis’ with comparisons between the cases on to levels: A municipal level and a ‘social work with children case’ level. The research is organized into 4 sub-projects, including a PhD project.