The Power of Trust and Relationship in the Implementation of Family Support Services: Learning from the Reaching Out, Supporting Families Programme

Abstract

ABSTRACT Implementation is the carrying out of planned, intentional activities that aim to turn evidence and ideas into policies and practices that work for people in the real world—the “how” as well as the “what” (Centre for Effective Services, 2022). Whilst partnership, relationship and trust often feature in implementation, until relatively recently it has been neglected in the research and literature. This paper focuses on the overarching learning on the role of trust and relationships drawn from a large-scale evaluation of the implementation of family support services by 36 organisations in Northern Ireland. Trust and relationships were found to be important enablers of change for services and families alike. Specific behaviours were identified that contributed to the building of trusted relationships, which, in turn, created the conditions for change to happen. This learning develops emerging work on trust among stakeholders, applying it to engagement with families as integral to the implementation of effective family support services.