Ethical Challenges Facing Social Workers - Term Paper Example

Outline Ethical Issues in Social Work Thesis: Ethical issues are among the major challenges that social workers face. 1. Introduction A. Description of Social Work as a career i) Entails helping people to promote their development in society ii) Involves addressing social problems affecting people B. Factors that attract people to the profession of Social Work i) Social Work offers an opportunity to connect with society positively ii) It provides a chance to make a difference in someone’s life 2. Rights of clients to self determination A. A client has a right to make independent decisions pertaining their life B. A social worker should not influence the decision of their client C. A social worker might breach this right of a client, if the client makes lethal decisions. 3. Confidentiality A. Social workers should not disclose clients’ information without a prior written consent. B. A clash between the right to self-determination and confidentiality might force a social worker to breach clients’ confidentiality. 4. Dual Relationships A. Non-professional relationship with clients is unethical for social workers B. Past clients might keep contact with a social worker, and the social worker might not know how to stop such interaction with clients that completed their contracts. 5. The most important ethical issue facing social workers – Clients’ right to self-determination A. Different factors today lead to poor decision-making B. Clients today are prone to selfish, harmful, and poor decision-making C. Social workers have to intervene 6. Conclusion A. Solution to ethical issues facing social workers i) Exercise good sense of judgment ii) Take time to deliberate on ethical issues before making a decision iii) The ETHIC Model of decision making by Congress (2000). Ethical Issues in Social Work Social Work is a unique career, which has meaning, involves action, and has high capability of making a difference. People in the career of Social Work have their main duty as that of helping other people in the society to develop in different ways in their specific environments. In Social Work, there is the addressing of various social problems, and these are considered social concerns. This makes Social Work in the present times to be considered among some of the unique careers that aim at helping people in society. There is a high number of professionals in the field of Social Work. These possess different skills that help them to serve individuals, communities, families, and organizations in an effective manner. Overall, professional social workers are found in diverse areas, including public agencies, private businesses, schools, courts, hospitals, police departments, as well as in private practice. Nonetheless, these are motivated by different reasons to join the profession of Social Work. The reasons that attract people to this profession can be considered to do mostly with the nature of the profession. A major reason that attracts people to Social Work is the notion that here, there is an opportunity to connect with society in a positive manner, by providing various resources. Social Work also provides chance for one to make a difference in the lives of other people through education, housing, food, or literacy training, among other ways; and this gives one satisfaction. Although Social Work is considered an easy career, especially for those that have passion and great interest, this also bears different challenges that have to be addressed effectively. Social work being one of the most important community based services has been faced with ethical issues in different perspectives. Like professionals in other fields or careers, social workers are faced with different ethical issues throughout their practice. The social workers therefore, have to make difficult decisions in different aspects of their practice. For instance, during the process of treatment, these must exhibit high level of ethics, and solve issues in an ethical manner. Additionally, social workers are expected to maintain boundaries with their and not breach them. Furthermore, these should be aware of any conflict of values during their practice, and must address this ethically. Nonetheless, for ethical practice, all social workers are guided by the ethical and legal guidelines from the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics (Congress 1). One of the ethical issues that social workers face today lies in the right of clients to self-determination (Smith and Hugman 4). The principles of Social Work dictate that a client has a right to self-determination. This means that the client is at liberty to make their own decisions without being influenced by a social worker (Miller Web). Additionally, a client has the right to find solutions to different problems affecting them, regardless of whether the social worker agrees with them. This therefore, means that a social worker should not use their personal opinions and biases to influence their clients in any way whatsoever. This however, becomes an ethical issue when a social worker desires to help their client by acting in their best interest, but at the same time needing to respect the right of a client to self-determination. Sometimes a client might make a decision that is clearly poor and which might have adverse consequences. In such a case, the social worker might desire to influence the client to change their decision to a good one. A second ethical issue in Social Work lies in the aspect of confidentiality. One of the guiding principles in Social Work requires that a social worker should ensure confidentiality when dealing with their clients (Smith and Hugman 4). For instance, all information that a client shares with the social worker should be held in great confidentiality by the social worker. Additionally, a social worker must ensure the privacy of a client by not disclosing any information pertaining to the client without prior written consent from the client. However, in some cases, most social workers might experience a clash between confidentiality and the right of a client to self-determination. For example, in an interview with Singer, Allan Barsky notes that sometimes a client might choose suicide as a solution to a problem they are experiencing, or might choose to harm another party (Web). According to Miller, in such cases, since the social worker cannot change the decision of the client, they are forced to breach confidentiality of the client by disclosing the information to relevant authoritative parties, in order to ensure the safety of the public, as well as that of the client (Web). This therefore, becomes a major ethical issue, as a social worker is faced with a situation in which they must make an effective decision, lest harm results on the side of the client and other external parties, if any. In this case, a social worker might be forced to act not in accordance to the guiding principles of Social Work. Another ethical challenge that social workers experience is that of dual relationships. It is considered unethical for social workers to get involved in dual relationships with clients, as the guiding principles of Social Work prohibit this. A dual relationship involves having an additional relationship that is not professional in nature; and this might include a romantic relationship (Miller Web). It is also expected that a social worker ends the professional relationship they had with their clients, once the contract with the clients ends. However, a social worker might find themselves in a dilemma when a past client continues to keep in touch. On the other hand, a client might meet a past client by coincidence. In such cases, a social worker will have to act in a way that is ethical, without going against the ethical guidelines of their profession, and without appearing uncourteous to the past client. Nonetheless, in this situation, the challenges lies in the fact that the social worker should not ignore a past client, yet he or she might fail to know the extent of the interaction. Such a situation therefore, calls for the social worker to make a decision that will reflect his or her high level of professionalism, courtesy, as well as judgment. The most important ethical issue facing social workers today is the one that regards the right of a client to self-determination. As seen, this grants a client a right to make their own independent decisions concerning his or her life. This therefore, does not call for any responsibility from on the side of a social worker to influence the decision of a client. However, the social workers today experience great challenges, as far as this right of a client is concerned. The present generation is faced with a multitude of situations and challenges that contribute to people making poor decisions. The high levels of individualism, psychological health problems, deadly diseases such as HIV and cancer, and depression, among other factors, have become prevalent today, and these contribute to poor decision-making. Many social workers interact with clients that are affected by these factors; hence these clients make poor decisions. According to Reamer, the decisions that clients make can bear potential harm to the clients themselves, their family, neighbours, or the overall public. For this reason, it becomes important for the social worker to influence the decision of the client in order to avoid being possibly reprimanded (3). Nevertheless, this is an important ethical issue in Social Work, as it influences different parties, and not the social worker and client alone. In conclusion, ethical challenges are a common occurrence in different professions, including Social Work. These challenges are inevitable, thus both experienced and young professionals in the field can experience them. However, this calls for the professionals to exercise a good sense of judgment in order to address such challenges effectively (Reamer 4). Only through this can the social workers achieve ethical decision making. According to Congress, a social worker can reach an ethical decision by taking time to deliberate on the situation. One should ensure that they are not anxious or fearful, whenever they are faced with an ethical challenge that requires ethical decision making (10). Congress therefore, proposes the ETHIC model of decision making for quick and effective decision making for social workers. In this model, the first step that a social worker should take is to examine their personal values, values of the client, societal values, and professional values. Second is to consider the guiding ethical principles of NASW, as well as other relevant laws. The social worker should then consider the consequences of various possible decisions. Additionally, one should consider the parties that will benefit and those that will be harmed by the different decisions. The final step is to consult one’s supervisor and colleagues, who might advise on the most suitable decision (10). From this model, one therefore, learns that decision making of a social worker can incorporate the views of colleague social workers. Nonetheless, only through this can a social worker obtain an effective solution to any ethical issue or challenge that they might face in their practice. Word Count: 513 Works Cited Congress Elaine. “What Social Workers Should Know About Ethics: Understanding and Resolving Practice Dilemmas. Advances in Social Work, Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 2000. Miller Ashley. “A List of Ethical Dilemmas Facing Social Work.” Chron, 2014. Web. Reamer Frederic. “Social Work Values and Ethics.” New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. Singer, Jonathan. (Host). “Social worker ethics: Interview with Allan Barsky, JD, MSW, PhD [Episode 78].” Social Work Podcast, March 11, 2013. Web. Smith David and Hugman Richard. “Ethical Issues in Social Work.” New York: Routledge, 2002. Read More