Ethical Issues in Social Work Practice

Question 1 

One of the most common dilemma in social work setting is the breaches of confidentiality especially in the case of minors who are also form part of the social work clientele. There are those minors who will share a vital and delicate information with the social worker and request for confidentiality regardless of how gross the matter may be. There are always those statements that adolescents will make such as, “You will not tell my dad, will?” This is one of the most heart crushing statements that any social worker will ever hear especially when dealing with minors but however much ethically one is supposed to maintain ethical standards, the law requires that one not only report such cases to the parents but also to the law enforcement authorities and the social services department (Carey, 2013). 

In such a situation there are ethical principles and values that becomes difficult to observer and so it ends up being a dilemma. Principles such as dignity and self-value of the client as ethically social workers should support the ability for people to determine for themselves what is right and wrong. Human relationship is yet another principles that becomes a challenge in such a dilemma because once the social worker breeches the trust of the minor, moving forward the minor may never trust the social worker thus breaking the relationship. Integrity also suffers in this kind if dilemma because the clients need to develop trust towards the social workers but again in such a situation of breaching confidentiality then it becomes difficult to develop trust with the minors who also form part of the clients. 

Question 2 

In the breach of confidentiality when dealing with a minor there are several competing ethical principles. Some of the competing ethical principles include integrity versus the obedience to the law. Social workers are expected to hold the highest level of integrity in the society and in their work setting. This integrity is subject to the trust that they develop with their clients in the course of time as they deliver on their mandates. When one breaches confidentiality and destroys the trust, the principle of integrity is thwarted meaning that the client will no longer consider the individual trustworthy but on the contrary the social services department expects the individual to be obedient to the law and report cases from minor clients without fail. The two principles then definitely gets into conflict for the social worker creating a dilemma in the process. It then becomes a tough decision to either stand with the client or the rules of the profession (Hugmn, 2002). 

Dignity and human relationship are yet two other principles that compete in such a scenario. The client has a right to dignity and anything that pertains to the client should not form part of a third party discussion and so when the social worker goes ahead to report the same, it only insinuates that the social worker does not respect the dignity of the client but at the same time the social worker has a duty to maintain human relationship with the law enforcers and the social services department. This then means that the two principles will have to compete on whether to maintain the dignity of the client and have the relationship with the social services maintained or the vice versa. 

Question 3 

The personal values that are contributing to the thoughts about the dilemma are quite numerous and include individualization where as a social worker I have the belief that each person has a right to be and act as a unique individual without conforming to the expectation of any other person in the society. Self-determination is yet another personal value that influences my action on this dilemma and so as per self-determination, one ought to make their own decisions and choices without any influence from a third party. Safety is also a personal value that influences my decisions in this dilemma as one should always feel safe when with others in the society and in the public. Safety demands that no individual should feel unsafe when sharing information or interacting with others in the society especially in public spaces. 

However, as a professional one has to adhere to the professional values guiding the profession one is and as such it requires that one breaks from the personal values. As a social worker, there are values of the profession that I must observe and the guiding principles as well as ethics. It is these ethics and values that guide me so that any decision made becomes objective rather than subjective in the long run. Take for example where safety is the issue, it no longer becomes just the safety of the individual minor client but also the safety of the state and the parents as well as those in the social services department. As a social worker one has to ensure the safety of the greater good in the society so that at the end of the day it does not amount to aiding or abetting an illegality that is perpetrated by the clients in question and this is regardless of whether one is a minor or an adult. Failure to report any illegality both for minors and adults’ cases would mean that the social worker is putting the larger society at risk of the effects of the illegality by the client and this contravenes the professional values in social work. 

Question 4 

There are several issues that comes into play when handling matters of confidentiality and breach of the same in any setting. There are legal issues that pertains to the state and federal laws. The social worker must thus look at the legal provisions surrounding the matter at hand and thus make decisions that will in no way conflict the laws both of the state as well as federal laws. For examples if a state demands that all minors engaged in drug abuse require rehabilitation, it is incumbent upon the social worker to breach confidentiality and ensure that the relevant rehabilitation bodies take up the case of the minor in accordance to the law. The other issue has to do with the policy of the organization that one works for as a social worker. For example in the hospital setting there are procedures on how to counsel different patients. Those with terminal illnesses may require the breach of confidentiality so that the larger family get to know for proper drug adherence and change of lifestyle. Consent is yet another key issue of consideration especially when dealing with minors because minors lack the capacity to make their own decisions and as such breach of confidentiality will occur where the parents must get involved for them to access services such as treatment in case of sickness or even for admission into a rehabilitation center when the issue has to do with drug and substance abuse. There is also the program communication procedure that require program staff to share and compare notes at any given time to inform program objective realization and improvement as an issue of consideration when it comes to breach of confidentiality. All these issues need to come into consideration when handling breach of confidentiality of minors as an ethical dilemma in the social work sector. 

Question 5 

I will use a decision making model by Kitchener (Sangganjanavanich & Reynolds, 2014). This model entails nine steps in total. The first step is to stop, pause and think about the decision that am about to make. Then I will review all the information on the client that is available to me. This has to do with things like the environment, the family issues, the history, the education background among others after which I will have to look at all the available options to my decision. Having identified all the available options I will then look at the code of ethics and see the solutions that it gives in relation to such related dilemmas. I will then identify the issues of ethics in the case and seek to determine if there are any legal issues of concern in the case. Having all these information, the next thing is to reassess the possible options and come up with an action plan. Once am sure that the plan of action is tenable and will salvage the situation, the next thing I will do is to implement it. I will keep all the details of all the processes just in case questions arise later, I can be in a position to justify my actions and decision. Meanwhile I will have to reflect on the decision and analyze the pros and cons just as a lesson going forward in the profession. 

Question 6 

The resources that I did employ in making the decision consulting the code of practice that governs social work. This is the NASW ethics code that outlines the dos and don’ts in the service of social work. This will help in identifying the conflicting principles and how the same are important to the practice of social work. There is also the need to review the state and federal laws in place to avoid losing license of operation because any decision that conflicts the two set of laws will see the revocation of the license. Therefore the decision need not only be sound or ethical but also legal and in tandem with the state and the country in general. The other option is to seek supervision. No one has the monopoly of knowledge and no matter how one has been in the social work profession, a second opinion in a matter of ethical dilemma will come in handy to inform the best way forward. Consulting NASW is yet another way of handling the dilemma. There are times when one can just call the hotline and argue out the case confidentially without exposing the client and as an organization of social worker, it will definitely come to the aid of their colleague and in a professional manner. After all the consultations and getting advices, I will take time to reflect and process all the options available before making a decision since decisions in ethical dilemmas once made may not be undone and one has to live with the consequences and so I will definitely take time. 

Question 7 

The just practice model has five main components and these include context, history, power, meaning, and possibility. Liberation health model on the other hand involves a practice that helps individuals, communities as well families in understanding the cultural, institutional as well as personal factors that cause the problems that they face and how to act to change these conditions. These two models are quite useful in coming up with a decision on the dilemma that this paper presents. It is important to get the meaning of confidentiality in social work as well as the context under which such a principle applies and in doing so one has to make the minor and the social services department and the law enforcers understand the source of the problems facing the minor and how to solve the same ( Martinez & Fleck-Henderson, 2014).  This simply implies that the two models advocate information sharing and decision making that will see the client take a leading role in changing the situation for the better thus they are very much applicable to the solution of the dilemma at hand. 

Question 8 

This ethical dilemma and the process that I did undertake to reach its solution has seen me grow in my profession in many ways. Firstly, I have been able to reach out to the ethics codes and my supervisor thus it has opened my understanding to the fact that no one has the monopoly of knowledge and no matter how much experience one has, there is always an opportunity to learn especially when dealing with people as a social worker. The dilemma has brought into the fore the place of legal provisions and have made me vacate the place of my personal values although the same enjoy the backing of the ethical principles and values under social work. I have come to the realization that one has to always work in tandem with the law and that the law supersedes any other regulation be it a professional requirement or not. To keep practicing one has to abide by the federal and state laws and although there are times that one may feel the urge to act in adherence to personal values, it becomes difficult to obey personal views when the law and the code of ethics in the profession dictate otherwise. 

References 

Carey, M. (2013).  Practical social work ethics: Complex dilemmas within applied social care . Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Company. 

Hugman, R. (2002).  Ethical Issues in Social Work . Florence: Taylor and Francis. 

Martinez, D. B., & Fleck-Henderson, A. (2014).  Social justice in clinical practice: A liberation health framework for social work . Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 

Sangganjanavanich, V. F., & Reynolds, C. A. (2014).  Introduction to professional counseling . Los Angeles: SAGE.