ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates talk in a child protection conference. It develops the concepts of character construction and its relationship to categorisation by considering how the client is depicted and assessed in a social work meeting. Case conferences offer a particularly interesting site since character construction is open to immediate debate and challenge, but this happens in an arena aimed at cooperation and consensus. There is a requirement to reach agreement about whether the child should be placed on the child protection register, if necessary by ‘a show of hands’. The child protection review is arranged by the social worker and chaired by a senior social services manager. Those present are teachers, day care staff, a health visitor, education welfare, a family therapist, the police, a foster parent, and a council solicitor.
