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The working relationship is considered a central feature of direct practice with human services clients. There are many challenges when it comes time to end a working relationship, yet limited guidance for workers on successful relationship ending. This paper aims to increase understanding of the process of the ending phase of the working relationship for parents and workers working with families where child neglect is an issue. The paper draws on data from a small-scale qualitative Australian study of perceptions of parents, family workers, and supervisors involved in eight parent-worker relationships. Using semistructured interviews, participants were asked to explore how they experienced the relationship. The findings illuminate important aspects about the ending phase of the relationship; in particular, challenging the idea that parents' returning to services for support is a sign that the service has not provided a successful intervention. The paper challenges social workers to consider recurring parent-worker relationships similar to other professional relationships where there are episodes of service but the relationship is there to be reactivated where needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Child neglect is a persistent social issue in Australia, with factors that hinder efforts to intervene. Of particular concern are difficulties that have been raised regarding building working relationships with parents where child neglect is a concern. This article draws on findings of an Australian qualitative study that explored in depth multiple perspectives on the development of relationships between family workers and parents where neglect is a concern. It was found that the process of building trust, which was central to the establishment of the working relationship and increased parent willingness to engage in child-welfare related interventions, was something the parents in the study engaged in actively. They did this through testing workers' trustworthiness and by attempting to reduce perceived power inequities between workers and themselves. It is argued that resistance to workers' attempts to build relationships are a healthy protective response by parents to challenge the professional expectation they submissively build relationships with strangers who wield great influence over their lives, and the lives of others in their family. Implications for professionals include developing greater understanding of why parents might resist attempts to build working relationships, and using this knowledge to accommodate parents' resistance where it arises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]