Confidentiality In Social Work

In care home setting where residents’ personal information can be easily accessed by. As a health profession it may be the occasion when dilemma arises of what records and reports, how, and when can be shared with whom. In order to balance the tension between confidentiality and openness, apart from strictly adhering with legal requirement and policies and procedures as I have mentioned above, there are ethical principles can be considered.

1. There are a few boundary issues that need to be addressed. The social worker developed a personal relationship with Bea. Bea was in need of additional income, she wanted to find a female to rent her spare room to. The social worker had a friend, “a woman who might be interested” renting the room (Hoffman, & St. Clair, 2003, p. 46). She asked for permission to let her friend know of the room, asking to releasing Bea’s information was appropriate. The boundary issue is that the social worker should have not even offered her friend as an option to rent the room. This situation becomes a conflict of interest and cross the boundaries of social worker and client (NASW, 2008, p. 7). In addition to this situation the social worker admitted to having

In the article “The Power of Being Professional” by Gerald A.J. de Montigny, the author states that the social workers allowed to have the authority to determine the fate of their clients due to the authority social workers have received based the documentation and record keeping that they do within their job. The social worker has the power to investigate, to intervene in the client’s personal life, apprehend a child, and to revoke client’s parole. These exercises of power can be used to both negatively and positively influence their client’s lives. All of the record and documentations are based on the worker’s perception of the experience and situation, not the child or the guardian’s. As the author points that the authority allows social

A social worker has a multitude of responsibilities to ensure the best care is provided for their clients. Due to conflicting interpretations of ethical guidelines and rules, and a variety of personal views, social workers can sometimes find themselves in a tough situation when there are conflicts of interest. This can cause difficult or awkward sessions between the social worker and client, and can ultimately lead to the termination of services. In the case between Allison and Carmen, conflicting views caused Carmen to discontinue her sessions with Allison.

Social workers face complex ethical issues in every aspect of their profession. This work is often ethically challenging because it involves direct contact and interaction with individuals who are vulnerable. There are many factors that influence our decision making especially when working with at risk youths, we often face challenges in wanting to take on certain roles to protect our clients. These roles often conflict with our professional obligations. When our personal and professional values conflicts, our decisions may affect the individual, family, group, community and the organization.

They should seek advice when they are unsure about sharing information or if they have been asked to keep secrets they could do this by speaking to senior, more experienced staff or management. They could also get further information by reading the company policies on confidentiality.

The section of the National Association of Social Work Ethics that will be discussed will be number four which includes Social Workers’ ethical responsibilities as professionals. This ethics code concentrates on a several different factors which include: 4.01 Competence, 4.02 discrimination, 4.03 private conduct, 4.04 dishonesty, 4.05 personal impairment, 4.06 misinterpretations, 4.07 solicitations, and 4.08 acknowledging credit.

Social Work is a career defined as “work carried out by trained personal with the aim of alleviating the conditions of those in need of help or welfare”. Social work varies in several fields, social workers work as part of multi-disciplinary teams with child welfare organizations, adoption and foster care agencies, hospitals, schools, prisons, mental health institutions, and more. Social work may leave the impression that it’s an easy field because it is assumed that all social workers do is serve others and manage paperwork but that is only a small chunk of the job. Social workers must deal with the ethical and emotional aspect of helping others. As a social worker, it is critical to comply with the National Association of Social Workers

In some circumstances a social worker may self-expose some things that may be helpful to the client in some ways, but be harmful in others and possibly may jeopardize the trust that the client has in the social worker. (Reamer, F. (2012). Determining the outcome is difficult; basically you have to pick you battles per-say.

Hello, Professor and Classmates! Human service professional has a lot of dilemmas they are faced with, and confidentiality is one that is very common. Human service professional recognizes the healing power of a trusting relationship. Confidentiality entails a certain amount of complexity for those who have professional roles in clients’ lives (Sommers-Flanagan, 2015). Confidentiality refers to the ethical obligation not to disclose confidential information obtained during the client relationship. Trust is imperative in the cornerstone of the counseling relationship. “Human service professionals inform clients of the limits of confidentiality before the onset of the helping relationship (NOHS, 2017).” Because of the rules of confidentiality,

The social work profession’s Standards of Practice outlines the boundaries in the relationship between social workers and their clients and sets a mandate of their responsibilities as a social worker (Alberta College of Social Workers, 2013, p. 30). In the Code of Ethics, boundaries are also set at a high standard as we must draw metaphysical lines between personal roles or interests and professional (Canadian Association of Social Workers, 2005, p. 7) to prevent forming a dual relationship with clients. Another boundary is to halt the possibility of the social worker from using the time they have to help themselves rather than helping their clients (CASW, 2005, p. 6). In addition to these boundaries, it is crucial for social workers to not share too much of their personal life with clients by placing mental boundaries of how much they feel they can share of their personal life with their clients.

Moreover, this case should be analyzed based on the information provided by the NASW Code of Ethics. The ethical principle included in the NASW Code of Ethics (2008) states that “social worker’s primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems…Social workers seek to resolve conflicts between clients’ interests and the broader society’s interests in a socially responsible manner” (p.5). Suzanne’s social worker would only have to seek for Suzanne’s well-being because if Suzanne and Cindy get separated, they can lose contact, which would affect Suzanne 's emotions.

Confidentiality is one of the most important things concerning social work. Clients confide in us and trust us with their information. They trust us and we should not break that trust. The NASW Code of Ethics 1.07 (a) and (b) states, “Social workers should respect clients' right to privacy… Once private information is shared, standards of confidentiality apply… Social workers should protect the confidentiality of all information obtained” (2008). Our clients expect the privacy they deserve and the Wyoming State Statues also agree that confidentiality is key. It states, “Client registration records and treatment records relating to persons receiving mental health or substance abuse treatment at a treatment facility under contract with the department shall remain confidential” (2017). People really do depend on social workers to maintain their privacy in which they disclose to us. Both the NASW Code of Ethics and the State

Social workers should be aware of potential or existing conflicts of interest, should not engage in dual relationships with clients or former clients, nor take advantage of professional relationships for personal gains. Under no circumstances should a social worker engage in sexual relations or physical contact with clients or client’s relatives even if it is consensual. Services should not be provided to an individual who has had previous sexual relations with the professionals. Social workers should not make “sexual

Ethical issues in general, regardless of the profession or field one is in are inevitable. Social workers understand the value base of the profession and its value base of the profession and its ethical standards, as well as relevant laws and regulations that may impact practice at the micro and macro level (Segal, 2016). Although social workers are trained and understand ethical standards does not prevent them to one-day face ethical issues. According to (Reamer, 2014) we have embarked on a new period, one which few of us, he suspected, could have anticipated. Today’s social workers can provide services online or via video counseling or text messages to clients they never meet in person. They may receive Facebook friend request from clients or former clients that lead to boundary challenges. These boundary challenges as Reamer categorizes them are part of what he calls the Digital period. “Issues steadily arise even among segments of the population that one would expect to