Professional, Ethical, and Legal Issues in Human Services

There is a pressing need for a high level of worker/client boundary identification when working within a client population, however realizing a conflict of interest scenario is vitally important when facing a dual relationship with a client. There are so many issues that are faced by a human service professional, explaining all of them may be difficult. In this field there are issues such as burnout, secondary trauma, compassion satisfaction, dual relationships, and boundary issues. (Reamer, F. (2012). As human services professional or social workers there is a code of ethics. In statement 6 of the code of ethics, it states human services experts must be mindful that in their associations with customers/clients power and status are

Effects of products/services and in relationships with stakeholders. That attention to business ethics is critical during times of fundamental change -- times much like those faced now by businesses, both nonprofit and for-profit. In times of fundamental change, values that were previously taken for granted are now strongly questioned. Many of these values are no longer followed. Consequently, there is no clear moral compass to guide leaders through complex dilemmas about what is right or wrong. Attention to ethics in the workplace sensitizes leaders and staff to how they should act. Perhaps most important, attention to ethics in the workplaces helps ensure that

Nutritional well-being plays an essential role in the overall health, independence, and quality of life of older persons as well as disabled persons. This nation has a responsibility to at risk populations such as the elderly. Today, there are close to 6 million seniors in the United States facing the threat of hunger. Some of these citizens were raised during the Great Depression, they went on to protect our independence in the Second World War and won the cold war. America's older citizens have been called the greatest generation by many. It is morally wrong that the citizens that built this country should suffer starvation in this land of plenty, which they helped to form. Our country

From job-related experiences, when I am placed into situations with individuals who have different ethics from me, I cautiously take steps to determine ethical dilemmas choices without violating the rights or opinions of all involved. In addition, the experiences working with teams at work, have taught me to carefully view the opinions of others before entering into open disagreement over a given course of action. I strongly believe, apart from the ethical position,. an individual has his or her individual right to express their opinion. The results of my EAI, combined with my experiences throughout school and work, have educated me that all ethical decisions require cautious thought. I firmly believe, in order to achieve the best results, one needs to take numerous factors including but limited to culture, into consideration while also allowing for future implications of any action dictated by ethical decisions I make.

Ethics are statements written that mirrors the principles of society it reflects society’s views of what is right or humanitarian. However, morals are not written and are codes setting out what is thought to be good enough or offensive behaviour.

I learned that in the beginning the Catholic Church provided human services. They supplied services for the poor, orphans, the elderly, and people with disabilities. People with deviant behaviors would be put into asylums.

Advocacy ensures that people who are vulnerable have a voice for the voiceless on their behalf for the injustice and policies that may impact them directly. Advocacy is helping or assisting an individual in acquiring the services they need. “Advocacy involves stepping forward on behalf of the client to promote fair and equitable treatment or gain needed resources” (Zastrow, 2013, p. 46). When advocating these issues can make the difference between a child being in a good position to make healthy choices in their life.

Ethical issues and concerns are ever-abundant in the field of helping professionals with never just one way to answer them. The most popular response is most likely, “It depends”. Some of the main issues are somewhat cut-and-dried such as confidentiality, documentation, referrals, and multiple relationships. For these, you learn the do’s and the don’ts, and when you can or you can’t. The primary obstacle I foresee for me is contending with the changing methodologies for delivering mental healthcare. The trends Cormier, Nurius, and Osborn (2009) introduce imply that “fewer and larger managed care organizations” are attempting to ‘streamline’ how human behavior and its subsequent care is supplied (p. 41).

Shaniya Robinson arrives at the County Human Services Authority for her monthly appointment with her social worker. Ms. Robinson is a 25 year old African American female who is receiving treatment for schizophrenia from the adult behavioral health services program. During a session the client reports that she is under a great deal of stress because she is having difficulty adjusting to being a new mother. Her five month old baby girl Shanice is teething and cries frequently. Ms. Robinson is also struggling financially because she is currently unemployed; her mental illness makes it difficult to sustain employment long term. And she does not receive support from the child’s father on a consistent basis. The combination of these

Teamwork- It has been found that relying too heavily on health information technology (IT) for communication can reduce teamwork (Yoder-Wise, 2011, p. 215). With the availability of information on the internet and computer software, nurses do not need to rely on co-workers or physicians for information. According to Yoder-Wise (2011), IT “will never eliminate the need for personal communication and teamwork” (p. 215).

Jill is a social work student working under her field instructor, Jack, who is a registered social worker employed within Child and Youth Services (CYS) in St. John’s, NL. In child protection, social workers have a number of duties to complete under the Children and Youth Care and Protection Act. These duties include handling reported referrals. This means receiving information from an outside source who is reporting that they believe child abuse may be occurring, normally in a family home. The social worker then proceeds to action this referral, which means going out to observe/interview the family and the child, to determine if there is in fact child abuse occurring (Government of Canada, 2015).

Everyday individuals are faced with issues associated with ethical dilemmas. Ethical dilemmas involve an individual’s behavior toward a moral standard, which may have been established from previous generations and passed along. In upholding the standards taught individual may be forced to take a particular action involving a decision when a behavior is considered non-ethical is when an ethical dilemma occurs. It can become difficult at times in making the correct decisions or solutions to the situation, which is why a code of ethics is established in the workplace. The code of ethics in the

Personal values may conflict with ethical decision making if those personal values are different than the organizational norms of the business or institution. Constructing, and maintaining personal ethics in the workplace rests with the individual, and how willing he or she is in assimilating to the evolving cultural dynamic of the corporate world. Many times a person find their personal, cultural and/or organizational ethics conflicting and must reconcile a course of action that will mitigate cognitive dissonance. In order to be a productive member of society, in small groups and globally, one must reconcile these conflicts on a daily basis and continually move forward while maintaining personal integrity and

In their personal and professional lives, people can and, unfortunately, sometimes do go against their moral and ethical standards. Ethical standards are what it means to be a good person, the social rules that govern our behavior. Ethics in business is essentially the study of what constitutes the right and wrong or the good or bad behavior in the workplace environment. A business is an organization whose objective is to provide goods or services for profit. The organization has a group of people that work together to achieve a common purpose. The moral challenges that these men and women face each day along with a whole range of problems that could occur, are why ethics plays such an important

Ethics can be dangerous to your career. The danger may come not from your own ethics but from the ethics of people around you and the organization of which you are a part. Employees have various moral decisions to make. Many of these decisions should be made on the basis of our moral obligations, but sometimes the morally preferable action could require courage and be performed beyond the call of duty. One defense against involvement in wrongdoing is vocalizing when there are unethical practices being made. While being prepared for organizational challenges that will inevitably test your personal values, moral beliefs, and commitment may be doing the right thing, is it ethical when one’s job is on the line?