The basic purpose of social work is to help individuals improve the quality of their lives. Social work is a helping profession and, resultantly, social workers are oftentimes referred to as change agents. They empower individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations to reach their full potential and enable them to make the necessary changes in their lives. They encourage clients to be self-determined and reinforce their ability to change and to focus on their own needs. Social workers strive to make contributions to the knowledge base of this profession. Social workers abide by ethical principles that are based on six core values which include service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships,
The National Organization for Human Services (NOHS) Ethical Standards is intended to serve as a guide to the everyday professional conduct of the helper. The standards are extremely broad and subject to interpretation, by the helper. Therefore, the standards are not static; they are revised as new concerns occur during the client-helper relationship.
Upon assessing all parties likely to be affected by the ethical decision, viable courses of actions can be drafted. It is critical to weigh the risks and benefits of each option in order to make the most informed decision. The first option would be to tell the teacher that the student is homeless, because it would provide the student and his family with resources. However, I would be breaching confidentiality and not upholding the ethical standard of privacy and confidentiality (1.07). Another option would be to respond to the teacher and state that it is not my right to share a student’s confidential information with her and that it goes against the NASW Code of Ethics, but it would potential damage my relationship with her. Thus, I could potentially go against rather than support the value of the importance of human relationships by refusing to disclose a client’s confidential information. Conversely, a third option would be to state that multiple families at Dickinson Academy are struggling to access affordable housing and suggest that we work together to develop a centralized fund to support the basic needs of all the homeless families, but the student and his family would not receive the full donation being offered.
The social work profession and its Code of Ethics dictate that social workers must act in the best interest of the client, even when those actions challenge the practitioner’s personal, cultural and religious values. In practice; however, ethical decision-making is more complex than in theory. As helping professionals, social workers are constantly faced with ethical decision-making or ethical dilemmas. As noted by Banks (2005), an ethical dilemma occurs “when a worker is faced with a choice between two equally unwelcome alternatives that may involve a conflict of moral principles, and it is not clear what choice will be the right one” (as cited in McAuliffe & Chenoweth, 2008, p. 43). In addition, ethical
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One of the ethical principles that is important to me is “social workers behave in a trustworthy manner” (Code of Ethics) and the value that goes along with this is integrity. I strongly believe that someone’s integrity says many
In the social work profession, it is a requirement to have a thorough understanding of ethics and some of the ethical dilemmas that one can face. On my journey as a social work student one of my assignments was specific to ethical dilemmas. The ethical dilemma that I chose to write in this paper about was multiple relationships and violating counselor client boundaries. The class that I wrote this in was HMS 102 which was values of human services. The main topic of the paper focused on the negative effects of sexual relationships. It also discussed crossing boundaries with clients and having other relationships such as friendships or other kinds of attachments to the client. In my field placement at Hardin Memorial Hospital social workers may have to be carful not to cross boundaries with clients especially in such a small town in which you may possibly know or know of a client.
Confidentiality is an ethical value that remains deeply rooted in the nursing profession and has always been the cornerstone of the nurse-patient relationship. Since the days as nursing students, we were constantly reminded of the significance in maintaining patient’s confidentiality.
The third ethical dilemma is when the social work practitioner overheard the conversation between the patient and her family members that the hospital staff has been verbally abusing the patient. However, the social work practitioner does not have any evidence to prove the abuse. She is also unsure whether the patient wishes to report this issue. The social worker was presented with the ethical dilemma of choosing between respecting the patient’s confidentiality or intervening to disclose and report the issue to the hospital
The NASW code of ethics a promotes integrity, competence, dignity, worth of the person, and the importance of human relationships, etc. Accreditation is a system for recognizing educational institutions and professional programs affiliated with those institutions as having a level of performance, integrity, and quality that entitles them to the confidence of the educational community and the public they serve. The Commission on Accreditation (COA) of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Authority to accredit baccalaureate and master’s degree programs in social work education in the United States and its territories. The COA is responsible for formulating, promulgating, and implementing
An ethical dilemma happens when two or more ethical principles conflict with one another. Ethical dilemmas are problematic situations in which it is not clear which choice will be the right one. The CP is stuck as to what to do next because there is not just one outcome that will satisfy the ethical principles as stated in the Singapore Association of Social Workers (SASW) Code of Ethics (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2012).
Thank you for sharing your outstanding post! I concur with you one hundred percent on the many valid points you have highlighted and I believe you have a very firm grasp of the NASW Code of Ethics. I am simply going to add that it is crucial to the clients that we serve now and in the future to maintain the highest of ethical standards in all of our interactions with clients or their personal information over and above the NASW Code of Ethics requirements. Thank you again for sharing your post. Calvin
From time to time, social work practitioners face different challenges and one of such example is being confronted with ethical dilemmas. An ethical dilemma is defined as “when the social worker sees himself or herself as facing a choice between two equally unwelcoming alternatives, which may involve a conflict of moral values, and it is not clear which choice will be the right one” (Banks, 2012). Ethical dilemmas can occur in the context of either client or organisational-related conflict situations at work.
This was a case I found in the book Ethics in Administration a Practical Approach for Decision Makers. The case is the following, Porter Sanders was the assistant administrator at a home health program. One day one of her best nurses, Emma Ray stopped by his office to discuss the concerns
Nonetheless, other ethical challenges relates to agency administration, community work, social policy, and research. For instance, administrators’ decisions about the distribution of scarce or limited agency resources, conflicts of interest among staff, and the use of ethically questionable marketing strategies to solicit clients. Still other ethical dilemmas involve relationships among professional colleagues. For examples social worker’s response to a colleague who has behaved unethically or who is impaired or incompetent or what’s Frederic G. Reamer refers to as the ethics of “whistle-blowing” (Company, 2016).