I have had a lot of client’s parents attempt to give me gifts, I learned working in ABA that some
cultures see giving gifts as a symbol of gratitude and by not accepting the gift you are insulting
them. I did have a client whose culture was like this, it was difficult, and very uncomfortable to
explain the ethics code to them. They handed me a handful of Starbucks gift cards for all of the
RBT’s, that were $25. I told them how appreciative of these we were, and how much their
gratitude for what we do meant to us, but unfortunately due to our ethics code passed down by
the state we could not accept a gift that totaled over $10. This is stated in BCBA ethics code 1.12
Giving and Receiving Gifts, that it can be both a conflict of interest and multiple relationship if
we accept or give a gift to a client, supervisor, stakeholder, etc... Thankfully the client’s parents
understood and took the cards back, before returning with gift cards that were only $10.
My BCBA was present for the conversation and said I handled it well, but if I had to change
anything I believe I would have changed the fact that this had not been previously discussed with
the parents. The parents had a different culture, we were aware of that when they first started,
different beliefs, different foods, different clothing style. They were very new to living in this
country, so I believe that it was the responsibility of the BCBA to go over the BCBA ethics code
with the parents, so they were aware of what was expected from not only them but those of us
providing ABA therapy to their child.
This code is very helpful in maintaining the professional boundaries required to effectively treat
the clients, but also to maintain those employee/supervisor relationships to enable them from
becoming blurred and allowing employees to overstep boundaries, which could often lead to
inadequate treatment for clients.
Link to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts: https://www.bacb.com/wp-
content/uploads/2022/01/Ethics-Code-for-Behavior-Analysts-230119-a.pdf
Yan, Y. (2020). Gifts.
Cambridge Encyclopedia of Anthropology
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