ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the opportunities and challenges of relationship-based practice in child welfare services, exploring the potential for co-production with children and families. The importance of relationship-based practice, and the centrality of this approach in developing effective interventions with service users, is acknowledged by some commentators within the existing literature. The engagement and participation of clients is increasingly acknowledged as an important issue for policy makers and service providers, both in recognizing parents as having a right to participate in decisions affecting their families and in contributing to better outcomes for children. Participation has been defined as the 'involvement of service users in planning, delivering and evaluation of parenting support'. Partnership is defined in a broader context, as 'working in partnership with all stakeholders, particularly parents, in relation to the development, delivery and monitoring and evaluation of parenting support services'. A meaningful practice research process presumes mutual trust among all participants.