ABSTRACT
What should be clear at this point is that although each social worker in a child protective agency is assigned to specific referrals and cases, the action on these referrals takes place in a highly bounded service delivery system. That is, the action taken by social workers is highly structured or constrained by an abstract set of rules, norms, or laws. Laws provide the boundaries that limit who the social worker can see and even set the parameters of the transaction with a client. For example, while laws may allow for the interviewing of a child at school without the parents’permission, they also may require that the child has a person of his or her own choosing to be his or her advocate during the interview.
