This paper examines how social care provider professionals could be supported by decision support systems (DSSs) in social care service planning (SSP). Since DSSs are not yet used in Germany, we rely on interviews with social work professionals to explore expectations and fears about DSSs, and how they could be integrated into professional practice. Our findings support three conclusions. First, DSSs providing visualizations of clients’ development are perceived to support decision-making Second, there is a need for DSSs to support shared decision-making Finally, it is crucial not to confound technical reliability with professional reliability. The paper describes key results from the MAEWIN project, which has been funded under the Graduate School „Digital Society“. The DSS developed by the project has a potential to foster a more participative approach in social care service planning and thus contributes to strengthen democratic processes in social care