ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the general traits of the social organisation in child protection agency may be seen as a set of legitimating process. It presents a detailed inquiry into the empirical material of the interaction between social workers in the agency and tries to transform this from a "language of enactment" into an analytical and conceptual language: a language of description. The empirical material in the chapter is based on an ethnographical study done during 6 months in a local child protection agency in a middle sized Norwegian community. The study was carried out just before and after the Child Protection Act was revised in Norway in 1993. The main method was participant observation of interaction and talks between the social workers. The chapter explores and stays close to the empirical material and to try to develop an analysis that make visible the way child protection work is constructed.
