An ethnographic study was carried out in a Parisian child psychiatry unit in order to analyze the relationship between the parents of autistic children and the hospital staff. The objective was to discriminate between formal interviews and casual talks, and to identify the discrepancies between the practices and the official recommendations. By focusing on the daily activities and social contacts in the hospital, our observations aimed at assessing the professionals’ management of the relationship between parents and children, and at better understanding the parents’ demands