As I read the clients message I struggled in identifying how I should address the dilemma at hand and wonder if perhaps not responding right away and seeking assistance from my program supervisor could help me make the right decision. I was cleared that as a social worker I have the moral obligation to consider the ethical implications of my decisions in others and wanted to help the client to the best of my abilities. As I struggled I considered the ethical principals that constituted the dilemma. The first ethical principle being the dignity and worth of the person- to respect your clients right to self-determination. This can be done by helping the client enhance her capacity/ability to make her own decisions and address her own needs. Second, …show more content…
I understood that I would not be accepting the client 's friend request but needed to assist her with her current situation. I figured that I would ask the client to come to the office, but in order to do that, I would have to inform my supervisor. I was unsure if I should disclose her HIV status, as it was what I was potentially going to help her with. As a social worker, I must respect the clients right to privacy and cannot disclose confidential information to a third-party individual, unless the client has authorized such disclosure. I also wanted to ensure to promote self-determination in decision making related to HIV/AIDS testing and treatment decision for the client. Therefore, I decided to informed my supervisor that the client had reached out via a social media account and that she reported needing immediate assistance. I decided not to disclose that the client was HIV positive until I discussed with her if it was okay if I did. The client herself ended up disclosing her situation to the supervisor and we helped her build a plan that was appropriate for her. The client was able to make her own decisions on how she wanted to move forward with her current situation. (NASW Code of Ethics,
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 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.
According to NASW Code of Ethics 1.09.c Sexual Relationships, “Social workers should not engage in sexual activities or sexual contact with former clients because of the potential for harm to the client”. However, the ACA Code of Ethics A.5.c. Sexual and/or Romantic Relationships with Former Clients states “sexual and/or romantic counselor-client interactions or relationships with former clients, their romantic partners, or their family members are prohibited for a period of 5 years following the past professional contact”. This particular difference was used because it is one which I feel the NASW Code of Ethics places complete and proper attention to the welfare of the client regards such relationships. I believe the presence of having a relationship with a client, even 5 years after ending professional services, still poses a harm to the client.
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?’
In addition, challenges can arise when there is no commonality in identities or when identities between myself and a client are radically different. In these times, as a social worker who has a degree of power in a relationship with people seeking help, that I must acknowledge to myself that my power can impede on inclusively practicing and remain self-aware (Gelfand, Sullivan, & Steinhouse,
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).
What do you think the ramifications are if you do not "start where the client is"? If the social worker does not start where the client is, the consequences are that the social worker will give advice too soon/quickly and there will be no connection between the social worker at the client. Or in-depths assessment. Building rapport with the clients is one of the most important counseling skills to possess.
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.
According to Beauchamp and Childress (2013), the principle of beneficence is the promotion of good and removal of harm while non-maleficence is to do no harm to others. Promoting the welfare and doing no harm to people has always been the goal of nursing. Therefore, we should inform his family so that they can take precaution, which will reduce the risk of HIV transmission. For instance, his wife can avoid unprotected sex with him if she knows about his HIV status. Also, family members can go for a HIV test and seek treatment if
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.
The beginning of the article discusses the ethical dilemmas during client support. It argues about two situations in which ethics needs to be considered. Some people argue that ethics is required in every case, while others disagree. However, the article says that value based decisions are needed in a social worker’s decision other than simply considering knowledge.
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.
So making a bad decision is never fun. I’d like to think that most of us prefer not to make them but can’t help to sometimes because we think a bad decision isn’t that bad. It might even be a good one in the right mind set. The point of this paper being to reflect on a pass choice looking at it with the elements of critical thinking. My bad decision is one I think most are guilty of, waiting until the last minute on something important.
• Ethical Theories An ethical theory is a decision model .These theories depicts the viewpoints from which people seek guidance as they make decisions. Each theory highlights different points, different decision making style or a decision rule. Ethical theories are based on individual’s ethical ideology these theories allow a person to find an answer to an issue, to make a morally right decision or to justify a decision.
Ethics according to my understanding is that division of philosophy which concerns with the moral principles that guide us in terms of our behaviour and way of doing things. Ethics simply helps a person in distinguishing between the right and wrong, good and bad, just and unjust, acceptable and unacceptable. It incorporates the ethical standards or the code of ethics guiding a person into the right path by instilling discipline and other virtues in our life’s daily activities. As professional teachers we endowed with dignity and reputation with high code of conduct while practicing the noble teaching profession which also requires us to follow set of ethical and moral principles, standards and values. Ethics in education concerns with the study of ethical standards or basic principles related rooted in the education system.