The Ethical Issues Of The Social Work Practice Essay

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.

This essay will address the ethical dilemmas faced by social workers and how they address these ethical dilemmas when working with service users and carers. It will be illustrated that codes of practice and codes of ethics are of paramount importance when dealing with these dilemmas as they are ones that guide social workers as to how they should try and solve these dilemmas.

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.

As a social worker many problems may arise because of the constant grey area of either letting your personal values interfere with your professional opinion. It is essential to provide your client with information and tools to help them succeed and overcome their problems. Following the core values is essential to being a resourceful, competent social worker. In some cases, core values are in conflict. In a situation where more than one core value is in conflict it is considered an ethical dilemma (Hick, 2009). It’s not guaranteed that a perfect solution will arise, therefore one of the core values is subsided because the other has more of an impact on the client.

Ethical dilemmas happen frequently in the social work and how one handles them could be the difference on how a clinician keeps their license or not. The problem is there is no way to prepare a person from knowing what situations will arise. Scenarios arise all the time and new ways to handle them is constantly changing. The ethical dilemma can happen anywhere and at any time with anyone, it could be a client, co-worker, and even supervisors. No social worker is safe from them. One however can practice with scenarios and be aware of personal biases. A social worker needs to evaluate each dilemma with the different frameworks and principals to determine which one applies best, anticipate what possible outcomes could happen, and what interventions a social worker would implement.

Social work is a very unique profession. The other professions that are in the same realm as social work are very specialized, however, social workers must have a broad range of knowledge in order to help their clients. This is where multiple agencies come together to make sure professionals are properly trained and knowledgeable. In the field of social work, ethics and values are the key principles that provide the basis for the mission. It is these principles that guide the decisions and actions of everyone in the profession. Without a clear set of guiding principles, social work professionals could do more harm than good. This profession sees people during highly emotional times in their lives, and that can be extremely challenging. The National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics not only sets the standards, but also guides a social worker through dealing with ethical dilemmas. As we evolve as a society, so have the guiding principles and values for the social work profession.

The commitment to act ethically is an essential aspect of social work due to the effect it can have on the quality of the service offered to those who engage with us. Through group discussions in our foundations of social work practice I have become extremely ethically aware and now will always seek to ascertain and respect, as far as possible, each individual’s preferences, wishes and involvement in decision making. From discussions with my fellow classmates I have learnt to strive to respect and uphold the values and principles of the profession by making sure I promote and work towards the code of ethics wherever possible. This in turn enables me act in a reliable, honest and trustworthy manner having worked closely with service users in a professional setting and learned of their good and bad experiences with practitioners through the service user experience we undertook in class. I believe I am now in a good position to apply the social work ethical principles to my professional practice, in a way that seeks to empower my service users and enable me to emulate the best practice. In addition from reading social work journals and staying on top of news regarding the profession more generally I am knowledgeable about the value base of social work as a profession .

Explain a range of ethical and moral dilemmas which social workers and the team may encounter when dealing with this care – look at case study on the assignment brief.

There are many ways in which social workers can avoid ethical dilemmas. In regards to the Jones case I will explain five ethical dilemmas. I will explain what 3 core values could have benefitted the Jones family and I will give three strategies I will use to practice ethical behavior in my field of social work in the future.

To begin, social work is a profession concerned with helping individuals, families, groups and communities to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social workers engage themselves in solving problems for individuals or relationships they may have in order to have a better lifestyle. Social workers work in various areas/institutions such as children’s aid agencies, school boards, hospitals and many more.These workers perform different duties depending on their workplace. Social work has four key concepts which include, social change, problem solving, person-in-the-environment and empowerment. These elements help the social workers find a conclusion with who they are working with. Just like any other work environment, there are policies in which they must follow. The CASW code of ethics. (Canadian Association of Social Workers). In some cases, social workers tend to ‘bend’ the code in order to make the right decision based on their experiences, beliefs and values. When they are stuck in a situation where they don’t quite know what to do, this is called an ethical dilemma.

There is a great necessity for the code of ethics in social welfare. The first code of ethics was “adopted in 1960” and was a single page (NASW,1998, para. 8). The last major adoption was in 1996, which was similar to what we see today, in the 2008 edition. In this changing profession it is absolutely necessary for a social worker to have something to reference to when there is an ethical dilemma, because they will transpire from time to time (NASW, 1998).

To begin with, the client whose name is Mr. Sam Pilsudski has an obstructed airway secondary to cancer of the larynx. He is a 67-year-old widower, and a father of one son and two daughters, who is unconscious and terminally ill, if not for a much-needed operation to remove both his cancer and larynx to save his life. However, one of Mr. Pilsudski’s daughters has adamantly refused to consent to the surgical procedure despite the physician explaining that although the operation would unfortunately render his patient disabled without a voice consequentially, but ultimately surviving the procedure to live and recover. Moreover, the physician attempted with rational and clear communication to express the gravity of the rather poor prognosis of his illness to his daughter that in the event of foregoing the surgery, his patient would surely die (Ralph Dolgoff, Donna Harrington, and Frank M. Loewenberg (2012), Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice. 9th Ed; p. 279).

According to the Preamble of the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers, “the primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human wellbeing and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty.” National Association of Social Workers. (approved 1996, revised 1999, 2008). Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers. Washington, DC: Author. The ethical considerations of the Bruff Case as presented by Hermann and Herlihy (2006), are clearly defined and set forth Code of Ethics; additionally, the Code provides guidance to counselors on dealing with issues which might give rise

the colour of his skin, then it could lead to him having a feeling of

By withholding information from the client in respecting the wishes of Michael’s family by keeping the truth from the patient was posed by his family members. As a social worker, the primary mission is to “enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with attention to the needs and empowerment of individuals who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty” (Code of Ethics of the National Association of