Due to the serious possibility of cause of harm to either the client or professional, dual relationships is a serious issue in social work practice. The ethical dilemma of dual relationships is whether there is potential of exploitation or harm to the client. An example of a dual relationship that is considered harmful is a sexual relationship between the client and social worker. On the other hand, a non-harmful relationship is one that is non-sexual and the client is not exploited for business gains.
The ethical issue in the above situation draws from provisions by the NASW Code of Ethics which states that social workers should not engage in dual or multiple relationships with clients or former clients in which there is a risk of exploitation or potential harm to the client (Loue, 2018). Social workers are able to determine if the dual relationship is harmful to the client based on the social work code of ethics. If it happens to be exploitative, it does not matter when it began, before, during, or after the professional relationship, it should be avoided.
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Usually, the client is more likely to be affected by the ethical dilemma. This is because they are in need of the services from the professions and only through close relationships can they be able to open up on some issues. Yet at the same time, they need to be protected from social workers some of whom can be exploitative either sexually or in business, hence harmful to the client. In such cases where dual relationships are unavoidable there are various courses of action that should be taken. These include taking steps to protect the clients and being responsible for setting clear, appropriate and culturally sensitive boundaries (Reamer, 2005). The rationale behind this course of action is that social workers are required to do so by the code of ethics. In addition, it will ensure that the integrity of social work practice is not compromised.
References
Loue, S. (2018). The Social Worker-Client Relationship. In Legal Issues in Social Work Practice and Research (pp. 1-15). Springer, Cham.
Reamer, F. G. (2005). Ethical and legal standards in social work: Consistency and conflict. Families in society , 86 (2), 163-169.
