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With the development from the traditional hierarchical to the new social service-oriented welfare approach trust has become a key element in the provision of social welfare services (Schaarschuch 1998). Following the new emphasis on democratisation, subject orientation, citizens’ participation and co-production, the realisation of public welfare services became inextricably bound to interactive negotiations between frontline workers of public welfare institutions and citizens requiring person-centred welfare services. From a social work perspective, this direct involvement of (at least) two interacting parties made both the process and results of social service provision in new ways highly unpredictable and uncertain. In consequence, mutual trust constitutes a key prerequisite in this process of co-production from the definition of the problem, desirable goals and appropriate solutions over the appropriation of services and achievement of goals. Trust-building, particularly on the side of the citizens, is, however, highly conditional, depending on a multitude of factors at the institutional and personal-interactional level (Wagenblass 2004). Focusing on socio-pedagogic welfare services for families with dependent children, qualitative interview-based case studies from Germany and Denmark elucidate important conditions and factors that are beneficial and detrimental to trust-building in direct relations between frontline workers and citizens. In particular, the case studies show how institutional transparency about processes, rights and entitlements, sufficient opportunity structures for participation and co-determination and respect for individual life choices are decisive for citizens’ trust, while the experience of pronounced power asymmetries, coercion and the feeling of helplessness emerge as highly detrimental factors., Scholarship in public administration, social policy and social work widely agrees that citizen trust is a prerequisite for the success of service provision and that frontline workers seek to build trust relations with clients for mostly functional reasons, in particular to secure client cooperation (Becker-Lenz, 2014; Cossar et al., 2016; Fersch, 2016; Senghaas/Freier/Kupka, 2019; Stensöta/Bendz, 2020; Tiefel/Zeller, 2014). Research thus dedicated growing attention to characteristics and behaviours rendering frontline workers un/trustworthy in citizens’ eyes while also investigating into the approaches and strategies used to encourage citizen trust (Behnia, 2008; Fabel-Lamla/Tiefel/Zeller, 2012; Fersch, 2016; Oelkers/Sundermann, 2022; van de Walle/Migchelbrink, 2022; van Ryzin, 2011). However, little is known about citizens’ perceptions about the role of trust in welfare provision and their trust decisions and behaviour. Even if frontline workers are committed to conveying trustworthiness, it is not said that these are sufficient for citizens to trust them. In fact, working relations occur under trust-adverse conditions. Encounters are shaped by power asymmetries, one-sided dependencies, and significant differences in risk exposure (Helsper, 2021: 68-72, 108; Wagenblass, 2004: 107-110). Unsurprisingly, research shows that citizens are often afraid and prudent when meeting caseworkers, lack trust or even distrust them (de Boer/Coady, 2007; Dumbril, 2006; EnTrust, 2021; Gibson, 2020; Mik-Meyer/Haugaard, 2020). Against this backdrop, we seek to understand what makes (some) clients of welfare services nevertheless trust their caseworker and aim to elucidate the conditions and mechanisms of trust-building from the citizens’ perspective.