Introduction

What is meant by sense and sensibility in working with children and families, the unifying theme that has been chosen for this book and the contributions within it? It is characterised by commitment to:

• an ethic of participation and co-creation that underpins relationship-based practices;

• enabling the empowerment of those involved with services;

• revealing the structural powers that work to counteract positive change and well-being.

At its heart is the aim to replace the hermeneutics of suspicion, caused by investigative and risk-oriented approaches with practices that are characterised by the virtues of decency and respect, noting Margalit's (1998) dictum that a decent society does not humiliate its citizens.

The notion of sense and sensibility is internationally recognised and associated with the work of the British novelist Jane Austen (1811/2003). Our re-imagining, as applied to social work, notes that sense is needed to apply knowledge, reason, and science to practices and must be grounded in culture and history as well as social and political contexts. Sensibility refers to the concern for relationships and the processes, particularly those of co-creation, through which trust is established and respect communicated.

Different worlds and worldviews are common in encounters between social work and the people we work with. Bridging and bonding processes, thus, become vital to foster. The application of robust and sustainable knowledge should be integral to practices, and this includes competence to cope with different worldviews, cultures and, indeed, how sense and sensibility is understood by different actors.