Adolescents Trust in the Child Welfare System: Does Institutional Contact and Performance Matter?

ABSTRACT Institutional trust is associated with effective and efficient policy implementation and delivery of public welfare services. Still, the non‐adult population is overlooked in studies of institutional trust and its mechanisms despite their regular interaction with core welfare state institutions. This study focuses on adolescents' trust in the child welfare system (CWS) and asks if first‐hand experiences and satisfaction with institutional performance matter for levels of trust. Cross‐sectional survey data (Youngdata) from Oslo, the largest city and capital of Norway, on trust ( n = 15 798) among adolescents with ( n = 753) and without ( n = 12 973) first‐hand experiences are analysed. The results show that there is an equal proportion of adolescents with higher and lower trust in the CWS. First‐hand experiences with CWS matter less for trust, although the children with CWS experience are less trusting overall. Satisfaction with performance is associated with institutional trust, where satisfied adolescents are much more likely to show higher levels of trust in the CWS. Despite the limitation that causality cannot be established, the study provides new empirical knowledge about the nature of trust among a group of public service users whose viewpoints and perceptions are rarely sought in discussions of trust and the quality of government institutions.