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Ethics and Social Work Practice

Janlee Wong, MSWNational Association of Social

Workers

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Workshop Background

• Education workshop sponsored by NASW• Participants should come willing to

participate in exercises and follow ground rules

• Participants are to respond to the exercises as social workers with a knowledge of the NASW Code of Ethics

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Workshop Objectives

• What it means to be a professional• Familiar with Ethics Values, Principles,

Standards• Description and exploration of perceived

differences and dilemmas • Discussion of Competency• Resources

NASW

• What it means to be a professional• You can’t be a professional and not a

member of professional association• Not a union or government agency• Private, non-profit (more versatile)• We can’t do it without members

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NASW Slide Show

• What are the benefits you can connect to or think you may use in the future as a professional social worker

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The Big Challenge

• Be aware of own spiritual/religious beliefs• Knowledge of own bias• Willing to challenge own beliefs• Willing to articulate or explore own beliefs• Respectful of beliefs of others• Willing to listen• Commitment to furthering your own skills,

knowledge and experience

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Perceived Dilemmas: Choose

• Sexuality• Reproduction• Marriage• Education• Government role• Morality• Religion/spirituality• Charity• Science

• Orientation• Choice/Life• Man/woman• Broad/specific• Small vs. big• What good/bad?• Small vs. big• Public/private• Directed/not

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Discussion ConstructUse this to frame your thinking

• Legalist– What does the law say and do you follow

what the law says• Moralist

– What is good and bad based on your “morals” be they religious, philosophical or political

• Ethical– Enhance human well being and meet basic

needs

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Warm Up Exercise

• Think of a situation that you feel was or could have been unethical.

• What were your different courses of action?

• What did you do and how did it turn out?• How did you arrive at your decision (e.g.

consultation, research, intuition, etc.?)

What Was the Basis For Your Thinking?

Characterize your thinking by the following:• Legal, Regulatory

– Where did you learn this?• Morality

– Where did you learn right or wrong?• Ethical

– Where did you learn about ethics?

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Small Group ExerciseDiscuss the following vignette. You’ll have 20

minutes including a 10 minute break to discuss the vignette and decide what you would do as a social workers. Consider responses in the following categories:

• Legalist• Moralist• Ethical

A group discussion will be conducted afterwards

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The Big Challenge for Next Exercise

• Be aware of own spiritual/religious beliefs• Knowledge of own bias• Willing to challenge own beliefs• Willing to articulate or explore own beliefs• Respectful of beliefs of others• Willing to listen• Commitment to furthering your own skills,

knowledge and experience

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Small Group Exercise• You receive a child neglect report about an

undocumented immigrant.• She is 28, unemployed & has 3 children ages 4, 6 and 8• She is leaving the children alone at home to party at

night. The six year old was found wandering the neighborhood.

• If found out, she could be deported (her kids are citizens)• What do you do?• While considering your options, categorize them in

legalist, moralist and ethical terms.• Be ready to report back in 20 minutes

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The Ethical Code

• Origin and development– Early social workers, morality codes– Rise of professional social workers

• Subscription and Enforcement– Obligated to act ethically as a professional

social worker– Ethical Duty as a professional social worker

• Evolution and today’s usage– As a guide to ethical decision making

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NASW Code of Ethics

• The Code doesn’t specify which values, principles or standards are most important and outweigh others*

• It’s not a set of rules• Social Worker ethics may conflict with

agency policies, or laws and regulations• There may be reasonable disagreements

Ethical Pretest and Slides

• 2 minutes to complete Handout• Review pretest slides and compare your

answers

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Code of Ethics Slides

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NASW Code of Ethics• The standards (6 areas)

1. Client2. Colleagues3. Practice Settings4. As Professionals5. To the Profession6. To Society

• Supports:– cultural competence/social diversity– Respect for colleagues– Fighting discrimination as professionals and through

social action

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Perceived Dilemmas and Ethics• Sexuality• Reproduction• Marriage• Education• Government role• Morality• Religion/spirituality• Charity• Science

• Describe the ethical issues for the terms on the left using the following:– Client self

determination– Responsibility of– Role of– More information– Social justice– Social action

Ethics to Practice

• While you may be versed in ethics, it doesn’t do you any good until you practice it

• One of the foundation values in ethics is relationship

• To be an ethical and effective social worker you must be able to form a relationship with your client

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Forming A Relationship with Client

• Developing a relationship with the client is key to social work practice

• When the client trusts you through the working relationship, behaviors can change

• Trust is based on ethical behaviors and beliefs such confidentiality, respect and confidence

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Are these trust building ethical behaviors?

• Giving personal information to client such as personal email, phone number, address, social networking site (Facebook etc)

• Hugging and embracing• Availability by phone for as long as client

needs it (work or home)• Visits to client as much as client needs

them (scheduled and unscheduled)22

Are these trust building ethical behaviors?

• Having dinner or going to movies with client. Treating the client.

• Helping the client with own money • Having a drink with the client• Inviting client to celebrate birthdays and

holidays with worker’s family• Sharing successes and problems in

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Are these trust building ethical behaviors?

• Sharing one’s own personal life story when client has a similar life experience

• Bending or breaking agency rules to help client

• Telling the client how to bend or break rules

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Harming by Helping• Unethical behaviors misconstrued as

helping or trust building can be harmful• Can you identify any in yourself?• “When social workers have not clearly

identified and/or managed their emotional issues and baggage that they brought into the profession, the scope and nature of client/worker relationships can become quite blurry.” Rose M. Handon, BSW, MSA, LSW

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Conflict and Dilemma

• High percentage of ethical dilemmas result of conflict between organizational demands and professional values

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Conflicts

• Organizational Policies

• Statutory and regulatory requirements

• Ethical codes

• Personal values• Moral authority• Loneliness and

Isolation

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What conflicts have you had or seen? What happened?

Stress Results

• Anxiety, depression, stress related disorders

• Relationship problems, physical and mental illness

• Lack of confidence in decision making, changes in work performance, uncertainty about the profession, prejudice against clients, demotion or loss of employment

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Coping

• Not following agency rules and procedures• Passive aggressive• Low and decreasing tolerance• Denial or “brush off”• Afraid to write reports or to speak up• Withdrawal, burnout• Substance abuse

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In Child Welfare

• Supervisors play a vital role in modeling, coaching, and engaging in frequent discussions with workers on topical issues of client engagement, rapport-building, and assurance of proper boundaries in the worker/client relationship.

• Impacts could be increased or diminished depending on supervisory and social support networks within the organization

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Coping

• Fitness or exercise• Become task focused• Seeking new knowledge• Seeking new supervisors, co-workers,

mentors

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Cynical Realization

• About money, power and politics• Not about serving people• Some turn to social justice and activism• Some leave their jobs or the field

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Exercise

• Vignette– 19 year old drug addicted single mom abused

and neglected 1 month old baby, gave baby drugs

– Child in foster care for 6 months now, mom was referred to drug treatment and parenting classes

– Mom attended a few classes but dropped out– Mom promises to do better

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Ethical Values

• Who is the client• How can the client be helped?• How can those around the client be

helped?• Can the system help?• If not, what can be done?• Is there a conflict with the system?• Can the social worker help?

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More Ethical Issues

• Take a minute to reflect on your personal values regarding:– Abortion– Immigration– Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual

• Do they differ from the ethical perspective? How?

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Vignette #1

You work at a private agency that provides counseling to pregnant teens. Your 16 year old client is 1 month pregnant and wishes an abortion. Your agency has a new director and he has issued a new policy. Before any abortion is performed, 48 hours must elapse after a parent or guardian is noticed. The notification may be waived upon a request to a court.

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Vignette # 2

You receive a referral of children in a drug bust. You find out there is an undocumented 14 year old with a record and has committed crime. Some community groups are lobbying for policies that would require you to report your client to both law enforcement and immigration.

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Vignette #3

You work for a private adoption agency that works only with married couples. A gay couple has come to your agency to adopt a child and you find out they recently married. Your director is opposed to gay marriage and gay adoptions.

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Wrap Up

• Did the issues in this workshop make you uncomfortable?

• Were you concerned about the implications of the exercises in your practice as a social worker?

• Did you feel you could not consider some ethical perspectives due to your beliefs?

• Are there some practice areas that you feel you cannot work in?

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Summary• All social workers are faced with ethical

dilemmas everyday• Ethics are not laws or scriptures• Ethics provides a means to discuss and consider

different perspectives• Ethics provide a guide but the decision is still up

to the social worker• A social worker must determine if they are

competent to provide services to certain populations in certain settings

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Resources• Belcher, J.R. D. Fandetti and D. Cole (2004). Is

Christian Religious Conservatism Compatible with the Liberal Social Welfare State?, Social Work, 49, 269-276

• Garland, Diana R. (February 17, 2006). Religiously Affiliated Organizations and the Opportunities and Challenges of “Faith Based Social Initiatives. Invitational Address Council on Social Work Education, Chicago IL. Retrieved from http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/24345.doc

• Hodge, D.R. (2002). Does Social Work Oppress Evangelical Christians,? A “New Class” Analysis of Society and Social Work, Social Work, 47, 410-414.

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Resources• Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

http://www.scu.edu/ethics/• NASW Code of Ethics – www.socialworkers.org• Reamer, F.G.,(2006). Ethical Standards in Social Work,

Washington, DC NASW Press• Social Work Speaks (2005), Washington, DC, NASW

Press• Summers, A.B., S.J. Brannen, (October 28, 2006),

Bridging the Gap Between Social Work Educators and Conservative Religious Students, Workshop Presented at the Baccalaureate Program Directors Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA

References

• McAuliffe, Donna, (2005), “I’m Still Standing: Impacts and Consequences of Ethical Dilemmas for Social Workers in Direct Practice, Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics

• Handon, Rose, (2005), Client Relationships and Ethical Boundaries for Social Workers in Child Welfare The New Social Worker Online Magazine

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