ABSTRACT
This chapter will explore the importance of caregiving relationships in residential childcare settings and how these can contribute to the relational development of children. Children living in residential homes have often had multiple experiences of adversity and encountered dangers in many forms. Caring for children in this context can involve challenges, including daily exposure to existential threat. This chapter observes how impossible promise-making can be a well-intentioned attempt by carers to protect children from danger yet may inadvertently increase their exposure to invisible harm. Placing relationships between children and caregivers at the centre, this chapter considers the ways they might be a vehicle for growth. Children and carers are considered to be ‘rich’, and the implications of this are discussed. Finally, possible promises contextualised within the caring relationships are offered, together with implications for the wider caregiving system that supports carers and children in their efforts to develop relational safety in a dangerous world.
