From the perspective of the practitioner social work is considered as a crypto-cybernetic performance, i.e. the observations formulated by Heinz von Foerster on second-order cybernetics are translated into action patterns for social workers: the observation of the observer is institutionalized in the form of supervision; a cultivated sense of possibilities corresponds to a reality that is seen as constructed, rather than objectively given; the contingency of moral expectations leads to a practised ethic of responsibility; the black-box idea corresponds to the proclaimed right of the client for self-determination. Today, due to Heinz von Foerster, social work can unashamedly celebrate ist cybernetic coming out.