A scenario of how a Social Worker's Personal, Ethical and Moral Values in Relation to the LGBTQ Community Might Conflict with those of their Clients
The scenario involves a Christian social worker who refused to serve a gay couple in the clinic. When the two men entered the social workers' office, he thought they were friends who needed his help. However, they disclosed that they were living as a couple and were at the verge of being homeless, requiring his intervention in acquiring a temporary shelter. The social worker vehemently refused to serve them by stating that his Christian values did not allow him to attend to gays. He justified his position by narrating how God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible due to their involvement in homosexual activities.
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The Distinction between Personal Ethics and Values and Professional Ethics and Values in Social Work Used to Address the LGBTQ Community
Professional ethics and values are the duties and obligations that social workers have towards their clients. These duties and obligations differ among social workers and members of other professions. For example, social workers are required to avoid harming their clients and follow professional standards of practice. The National Association of Social Work (NASW) Code of Ethics (COE) provides specific guidelines regarding the values that social workers need to uphold in their practice (Dessel et al., 2017). Specifically, the COE requires social workers to understand the social identities of the clients associated with sexual orientation and avoid oppressing members of the LGBTQ community. Further, the COE states that social workers should not discriminate their clients based on sexual orientation and that they should work hard towards eliminating this discrimination and injustices.
On the other hand, personal ethics and values are based on individual convictions shaped by religion, society and in-group members (San Francisco State University, nd). For example, religious people are required to balance the expectations from their personal beliefs and the values of the social work profession. Religious people sometimes struggle to serve people from the LGBTQ community. The NASW Code directs social workers to engage in culturally competent and non-discriminatory social work practices regardless of the clients' sexual orientation and gender identity.
How Prejudice and Bias Might Create Barriers to Fulfilling My Professional Responsibility to the LGBTQ Community
Prejudice and bias are two negative values facilitated by the belief in upholding discrimination. Prejudice and bias occur when individual values conflict with professional values causing tension and ambivalence on how to serve members of the LBGTQ community. This, in turn, leads to engagement in unethical practices.
Critical Analysis
Social workers serve a wide range of clients in their practice, some from the LGBTQ community. As such, social workers need to provide culturally competent services to such clients. Providing these services requires social workers to balance their personal values and the professional standards provided in the NASW Code. This is achieved by developing cultural competence and understanding social diversity among clients (National Association of Social Workers (NASW), 2015). Also, social workers have an ethical responsibility for fighting discrimination and prejudice towards members of the LGBTQ community. Social workers are supposed to use a non-judgmental attitude and provide warm environments that facilitate expression among LGBTQ members.
References
Dessel, A. B., Jacobsen, J., Levy, D. L., McCarty- Caplan, D., Lewis, T. O. & Kaplan, L. E. (2017). LGBTQ topics and Christianity in social work: Tacking the tough questions. Journal of the North American Association of Christians in Social Work. 44(1/2): 11-30.
National Association of Social Workers (NASW). (2015). Sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) and conversion therapy with lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender persons. Washington DC.
San Francisco State University. (nd). Family Acceptance Project. https://familyproject.sfsu.edu/publications
