Examples Of Ethical Dilemma In Social Work

However, social workers’ responsibility to the larger society or specific legal obligations may on limited occasions supersede the loyalty owed clients, and clients should be advised.” (Handout, Pg.

Section 1 of the NASW (1999) Code of Ethics outlines social workers’ responsibility to clients. The principle of “commitment to clients” explains that the client’s best interest is primary. Social workers have an obligation to promote the client’s well-being. The exception to this is a legal mandate to do otherwise, or in some instances when the well-being of another individual or greater society takes a higher importance. In those exceptional cases, the client needs to be aware of the limitations of the social workers’ commitment to him or her (Rothman, 2005).

The following ethical principles are based on social work's core values of service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence (NASW, 1999). These principles are to be used when assisting clients and their needs. Social workers also should be attentive of the impact on ethical decision making of their clients' and their personal values and cultural and religious beliefs and practices. They should be aware of any conflicts between personal and professional values and deal with them responsibly (NASW, 1999). Ethical dilemmas are

18) she described the “risky business” of engaging in dual relationships with clients as a social worker. Her main focus in this article was describing concerns with crossing pre-established professional boundaries with clients and entering dual relationships. Dewane (2010, p. 18) proposed that these dual relationships have the potential to exploit the client, increase social worker’s liability, and risk hindering the therapeutic process. The social work Code of Ethics instructs, “If a dual relationship is exploitative, whether it begins before, during, or after a professional relationship, it should be avoided” (Dewane, 2010, p. 18). Dewane (2010, p.18) also specified some exploitative situations to include romantic/sexual relationships, trading goods or services instead of money, and entering into business agreements.

Kerridge et.al (2009), developed an ethical decision making model made up of seven steps to guide a social worker to identify both ethical issues and to evaluate the values of the identified issues (Kerridge et.al, 2009). This model is applied to the three options that are elaborated and illustrated in Appendix’s B. C. and D. The first step in the model is to ‘clearly state the problem’ which is the argument of self-determination and own wishes versus Sophie’s mother’s wishes and the law. This elicits questions such as ‘Is a sixteen year old girl mature enough to make the decision of termination?’

Social workers main ethical responsibility is to ensure that the patient is receiving the proper care that they are entitled and that the patient is the main

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. The first ethical dilemma is when the patient refuses medical treatment and services because he or she would not accept that there is any problem.

detailing the alignment of my behavior and my values. I saw this as a reflection of my actions in where I find integrity as a foundation that I rely in order to convey trust. It important for me to be clear that as much I expect others to the right thing, I put myself through the same criteria and expect the same within myself, my morals guide what I do as a leader (Northouse, 2016). In social work having a strong sense of ethics provides clarity on the compounding issues that can arise in the field. I relate having Internalized Moralized Perspective as doing the right thing even when no one is looking or paying attention and also being fair while acknowledging other perspective without judgment or bias.

Correspondingly, it will guide me to provide my clients with the ability to make informed consent. Additionally, this value is important to my future practice because it ensures that I become an advocate for my clients in every capacity, including human rights. Lastly, as a social worker, I will ensure that I work towards my clients being free from violence and the threat of violence (Heinonen & Spearman, 2010, p. 34). Secondly, as a social worker it is necessary that my practice is guided by my value of providing a service to humanity.

Ethical Issues in Social Work Practice 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).

Ethics is the way that we try to lives our life base on the standard of what’s right or wrong. Those standards are based on beliefs by which judgments are made about good or bad behavior. Your personal moral standards are built up over your lifetime. It affects the choices you make in your life. Standards of ethical behavior are absorbed by seeing the examples of everybody around you.

Since social workers work with a variety of populations, they experience some dilemmas during delivering their services to clients, hence the need for ethical conduct. According to Barker (2003) an ethical dilemma refers to a situation that occurs when two or more moral values seem to be equally legal but contradictory and the practitioner is required to make the best possible choice from among them. So it is important to have ethics that will help in taking ethical decisions. Barker (2003) defines ethics as a system of moral principles and perceptions about right versus wrong and the resulting philosophy of conduct that is practiced by a

The practice of health care includes many scenarios that have to do with making adequate decisions when it comes to a patient’s life, and the way they are treated. Having an ethical code in all health care organizations is very important, because it helps health care workers with reaching a suited and ethical decision when it comes to the patient. In health care, patient will always be put first, and their autonomy will always be respected. Nevertheless, when there is a situation where a patient might be in harm, or might be making their condition worse because of the decisions they made. Health care workers will always be there to

Maintenance of Clients’ Dignity in the Practice of Social Work The person is always a central axis in the process of social work. A person who becomes a client of the social worker is unique, his life history is unrepeatable. When a professional social worker affiliates a relationship with his client, he knows that his personality is violated, so they together have to try to restore a mutual beneficiary interaction between this person and the society. A social worker can accomplish this purpose just if his activity is conducted by highest values.

The article “Ethics and Value Dilemmas in Social Work” is written by Suncica Dimitrijevska and Vladimir Ilievski, published by Polirom & Universitatea Bucureşti - Dept. de Sociologie is Asistenţă Socialăby 2016.The article talks about the ethics which a social worker needs to follow and the dilemmas which they face while they deal with the different cases in their day to day life. A social worker 's decision never gets influenced by the clients age, culture, psyche or psychological abilities. This article discusses about various topics like, ‘ethical dilemmas during client support, values and knowledge in social work, values dilemmas of the clients encountered by the social workers, areas of ethical dilemmas facing social work and steps for solving the ethical dilemmas’(Dimitrijoska, Ilievski- 2016, p.49).