ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationship between trust and control. We adopt a contingency perspective on this relationship as we argue that the United Kingdom (UK) government's choice, to either formally control or trust professionals working in children's services, is reliant on the level of uncertainty experienced in the policy realm. Extensive documentary research and a three-year-long observation of the work undertaken in a children's services partnership (between agencies providing outcomes for children in the local borough) in England revealed that, in an area where uncertainty about what keeps children safe from harm is considerable (and has arguably always been so), the government is embracing a philosophy of trust that departs quite fundamentally from the traditional ‘mechanistic’ system of control. Whereas the latter is still in place, there is an increasing body of evidence suggesting a shift towards trusting children's services professionals.
