Confidentiality In Social Work Profession

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.

In order to best keep integrity within the relationship, a worker must inform the client in the beginning of the relationship, what the worker’s responsibility is regarding reporting requirements. A social worker may also be working with a child who shows concerning signs of abuse or neglect; the worker needs to be able to react and respond in a way that will not further upset the child or make them feel as though they are in trouble for sharing. Understanding the role of a mandated reporter is crucial as a social worker. Social workers build relationships with clients through frequent meetings, some which may be at the client’s home. Because of this, social workers have the opportunity to observe and identify causes and concerns of abuse which often start in the

Profession Code of Ethics Comparison As a social work student, we are provided with the foundational education necessary to succeed in our profession. The National Association of Social Work (NASW) Code of Ethics is the most significant publication because it “is intended to serve as a guide to the everyday professional conduct of social workers” (NASW Code of Ethics, 2017). For this assignment, we are charged with exploring other professional codes of ethics to gain a better understanding of how they may be similar or differ from one another. Therefore, I choose to explore the American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics with the intention of conducting a comparison analysis of both documents.

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

Clients are informed of the confidentiality restrictions by human service professionals prior to the beginning of the helping

Personal Identity and Managing Personal Values Who I identify as, the groups that I belong to, and the values I have will knowingly and unknowingly attach a level of privilege and power that can and will impact my professional identity and the work I do as a professional. The purpose of this paper is to examine how my identity could impact my work as a social worker, how my personal values conflict with my professional values, and to recall a time when I reduced the participation in oppression. The groups of which I belong can impact my ability to help individuals and communities in a number of ways.

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.

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).

In a nutshell this means it is highly likely that I may come across somebody that I know, or somebody that a friend of family member knows. Due to this fact it can become easy or even tempting to show special treatment or discuss client information with others. Mt ethical dilemmas paper discusses how a good social worker must always put the client first and never take short cuts with clients, manipulate or deceive clients, or break confidentiality unless

Two Encountered Dilemmas One ethical dilemma that mental health counselors encounter would be institutional policies against disclosure (Substance Abuse and mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA, 2005). In addition, it is important for counselors to identify their clients. Moreover, counselors may have one legal client, but faced with several ethical clients. Disclosure of information of client’s confidentiality need to be protected by counselors, which can be difficult when information has been court ordered.

And instead, they may wish to encourage the client to choose another alternative. Hence, in such cases, the practitioners faced the struggle between balancing their own value systems and their professional obligation as a social worker. The third ethical dilemma is when the social work practitioner overheard the conversation between the patient and her family members that the hospital staff has been verbally abusing the patient. However, the social work practitioner does not have any evidence to prove the abuse.

Values and Ethnics The NASW code of ethics core social work values is heavily active until this day. The code of ethnic its self is a set of guidelines for the ethnically practice of social work. The core value found in the code of ethics is Social justice, service integrity, importance of human relationship, dignity and worth, and competence. This code of ethics reflexes the relationship of the worker to the client and the worker. These codes of ethnic are placed to improve and establish rules and boundaries from social workers to clients and the importance of the ethnical value its place for the helping of the social worker.

PRINCIPLE OF FIDELITY Principle of fidelity states how psychologist establish trust with whom they work with in accordance to the American Psychological Association (APA) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code Conduct. This principle concern with the trust relationship between the client and counsellor. Being honorable is seen as the basic to understanding and resolving ethical issues.

In my social work field supervision, I am expected to abide by the NASW Code of Ethics as well as the state of Alabama code of Ethics. In social work field supervision, it gives me the opportunity to apply theory to direct and community practice with my clients. I also get a chance to learn from a veteran or seasoned social workers by observing, practicing, and experiencing the important integration of theoretical knowledge with practice skills while working with diverse populations and communities. This experience also help me build a sense of professional identity that I can only acquire in a practice setting. Field supervision also help to recognize and adhere to the core values and ethical principles of the social work profession.

In order for Social Workers to efficiently carry out their duties they must be fully aware of the law that governs the land since every country has its own set of laws and each is unique to that country. Within a Social Worker profession confidentiality is an ethical concept and a legal duty of the social worker to keep client information private. There is absolute confidentiality, that is client’s disclosure are not shared with anyone and relative confidentiality is the information is shared with the client permission or through legal requirement, for example child abuse (Shebib 2003). In this scenario, Mrs. X is married to Mr. X and disclosures information to the Social Worker of cases abuse, marital neglect and the fear of losing her kids. It is of importance for Mrs X to know the laws that governs marriage, divorce, custody, maintenance and domestic violence.