ABSTRACT
MR. JAY made it clear to all and sundry that he trusted no one but himself. He did not trust the public welfare worker to understand that he had to be at home all the time because his wife was competent neither to do the housework nor to manage the children. He did not trust physicians because they could not cure him of a long-standing backache. He did not trust employers because they always took such advantage of him that he had to leave every job after a few months. Mr. Jay’s basic and pervasive mistrust led to the family’s dependence on public welfare for more than ten years during which no appreciable constructive changes occurred in the family’s circumstances in spite of many and diverse efforts of agency personnel.
