The thesis deals with the circumstance statement about families that the social service prepares at the district court's request for custody disputes. Custody disputes and its effects have been studied mostly from the point of view of children and parents. Some custody disputes have also been investigate d in the light of the decisions of the District Court and related to the study of the circumstances of the social work literary material. In this thesis, three actors customer, the District Court and the social services cooperation I have chosen to do a thesis in social working in circumstance statement. In the thesis I interview the social workers doing the circumstance statement, with which resources they have prepared the condition studies, how they see doing the studies as part of their own work and what kind of perception they have on their own expertise in investigative work. Eight social workers from North Ostrobothnia participate in the interviews in two District Courts. In the thesis I use Niemelä (2009) theory of functionality and try to understand the realistically and as truthfully as possible. The analysis of the material is a deductive analysis based on functional theory. Based on the results of the study, it can be said that the resources for circumstance report are reasonable. The studies have been prepared for 1-4 months. In the process of conducting the environmental assessment, the methods differ from the different localities. In other places, we keep the only information collection and others take into account the chance of reconciliation during work. Children are met 1-3 times. Co- operation with the District Court and the other community is considered inadequate and challenging. According to the interviewees, the circumstance report is suitable for social work. The role of a social worker as an employee of child welfare and the working as circumstance report is considered to be contradictory. The purpose of the child protection assessment is to transfer it to a different workplace by means of child protection notifications. Circumstance report have been learned through "heel" without training. Social workers need education to make inquiries and especially to hear children. They also want closer cooperation in the direction of District Court. Taking account of the child's interests in disparities and in particular in the service relations should be assessed multiprofessionally by the authorities. Collaboration should be increased and developed among the different actors. As a preventative work, I see the activities of the children administrator in the form of divorce contracts. Early support for the child's interest can prevent custody disputes. Working on the environmental statement could be more conciliatory, consider the child's interest. The work of the Authority in divorce proceedings i s the preventive child protection mentioned in the Child Welfare Act and is therefore related to child protection and childhood protection. This perspective should be more clearly seen in the parential divorce. Keywords: condition report, maintenance, child welfare, social worker expertise