Trust as a Foundational Family Need in Contexts of Trauma: A South African Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT Objective This study examined trust as a foundational family need and explored how relational trauma erodes trust and how families attempt to restore it. Background Trust is central to family life, yet it remains underexamined as a distinct family need in family scholarship. It supports safety, belonging, emotional continuity, and relational connection. When families experience relational trauma through abuse, neglect, bereavement, or betrayal, trust is often disrupted, with consequences for family functioning and well‐being. Method A qualitative design used Human‐Centred Design focus group workshops incorporating photo and object‐elicitation. Participants were 53 individuals from two municipal areas in the Western Cape, South Africa: 27 adult caregivers, 14 adolescents, and 12 practitioners. Practitioners included social workers, child and youth care workers, and community‐based workers. Participants were recruited through purposive, convenience, and snowball sampling. Data were analysed inductively using Braun and Clarke's six‐phase thematic analysis. Results Seven interrelated themes were identified. Trust emerged as a casualty of trauma and betrayal, a feature of chosen family, a prerequisite for support and disclosure, a force shaping intergenerational consequences, a resource transferred to God, a value embodied in community vigilance, and a capacity rebuilt through ongoing relational labour within families and across support networks. Conclusion Trust should be recognised as a core dimension of family well‐being in trauma‐affected contexts. Interventions, services, and policy responses should engage trust explicitly by supporting relational safety, repair, and community‐based care.