Good helping relationships in child welfare: learning from stories of success

This study involved in-depth exploration of good helping relationships in child welfare. A select sample of six child welfare worker-client dyads was interviewed to determine worker attributes and actions that were key to the development of good working relationships. Innovative features of the research design, such as a multiple interview format with two individual and one joint interview for each worker and client (five interviews per dyad) and opportunities for the worker and client in each dyad to reflect on and respond to the other's interview transcripts, produced rich data and revealed high levels of congruency among workers, clients and researchers about worker relationship competencies. Two categories of themes that emerged from the qualitative analysis are discussed: (1) soft, mindful and judicious use of power; and (2) humanistic attitude and style that stretches traditional professional ways-of-being. Implications for the hiring, education and training, and supervision of child welfare workers are presented.