ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the history and the current positioning of the support person practice in Finnish child welfare. The current Child Welfare Act stipulates that the municipal body responsible for social services must, wherever necessary, arrange a support person for the child deemed to be in need of support. The chapter explores how the main agents upholding the practice of using support persons (PSP) are positioned relative to each other, and how the making of a support relationship is relationally accomplished and sustained. It understands the valued cultural resources that volunteers are seen to need in order to deliver successful support to the children. The chapter focuses on the qualities of a good or appropriate support relationship as described in the documents and by the coordinator and the volunteers. It works towards identifying the actual effects of the practice as reported by the interviewed support persons. In the documentary data, children were represented as hungry for an adult.
