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This article discusses a survey carried out in an organization providing at-home educational assistance that was experimenting with an enhanced system to work with users and develop their capability to act. Questions around the translation of the request show problematic situations of withdrawal in which the assistance is ceased even though the needs remain and a request is made. Looking at one case highlights a process of mutual claims of (in)capability: the educational team points the finger at the omnipotence of the mother, who “thwarts” the assistance, whereas the mother reproaches the educational bodies for being “incapable” of helping her son. The withdrawal is therefore an indication of the social workers’ inability to act. This situation shows how differences in representations and respective expectations, as well as in timeframes and logics of action, trigger resistance and discontinuance. The article raises the question of the effectiveness of the rights of families in their relationships with children’s social assistance services, and of the efficacy of the educational assistance. Beyond the discretionary power of professionals, the translations and decisions made call into question the relevance of social policies and the conditions of their implementation on the local scale.