child and family development forum and responses

Hello everyone,

    This week I struggled to decide between two of the ethical approaches. I finally decided that virtues ethics was most important. This individual focused approach to ethics allows for professionals to identify their internal strengths in making ethical decision making (NCFR 2012, 12). According to NCFR (2012), virtues are important for all professions and ethical decisions within current social contexts (12). The virtues most important were caring, prudene/practical wisdom, and hope/optimism (NCFR 2012). According to Powell (2006) the addition of virtues ethics allowed for moral competence to be focused on instead of only technical competences.I believe that virtues ethics is important because it focuses on a family life educators’ internal standards for promoting family’s quality of life.

    For example while making an ethical decision through a virtues approach a professional may consider what is better for a family or community (Powell 2006). In the case of culture and gender issues in the early childhood classroom (NCFR 2012) a professional may act in a certain way because a virtues such as using practical wisdom to see differences between the parents and educators views on different principles and needs. The virtues of the professional would strive to enhance the families well-being and account for family relationships. In another example of twins with developmental delays attending a mother-child program but educators believing one twin would receive better aid through home services (NCFR 2012) a family life educator would want to consider a variety of different options to make the best decision. A family life educator would want to do what is best for the family and discuss this with the educators. This may include discussing the importance of the whole family being involved in the program. A family life educator may also focus on the potential growth and bonding of family relationships through the program. It is important to remember that while one twin will receive more effective services in the home, that the program outside the home may also benefit all members of the family.

    Ethical decision making is difficult and complex. But I think having a good moral foundation can be helpful to individual professionals when reflecting and practices ethical behaviors. Those internal standards influence how a person may hold themselves up to other professional standards set by their occupation.

Staci

References

National Council on Family Relations (NCFR). (2012). Tools for Ethical Thinking and Practice for Family Life Education (3rd Ed.). Minneapolis, MN: National Council on Family Relations.

Powell, L. H. (2006). Family Life Education: Working with Families Across the Life Span (2nd Ed.). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

For the forum this week I struggled to choose between the relational ethics approach and the virtues ethics approach as the most important for a Child and Family Life specialist. While I feel that both are important, after reading about both approaches I eventually concluded that the relational ethics approach is of more importance for this type of professional. As stated in Tools for Ethical Thinking and Practice in Family Life Education (National Council on Family Relations, 2012), “the use of relational ethics is critical to work with families” (p. 13). There are multiple relationships to be considered when working with children and families, and the relational ethics approach takes each of these relationships into consideration, “striving for caring relationships in all professional interactions” (p. 11). I feel that this approach is most important because its focus is on forming positive, caring, and respectful relationships with those we work with and ensuring that their best interests are at the heart of what we do. 

The National Council on Family Relations (2012) lists five general principles of relational ethics that “form a basis for understanding specific ethical dilemmas and guide practice … toward the development of caring and respectful relationships with all family members” (p. 13). These principles include a focus on the development of caring relationships to understand ethical issues and guide ethical actions; the educator’s responsibility of forming relationships “built on trust, caring and understanding” while modeling “acceptance, caring and understanding” and “pursuing a mutually respectful and caring relationship” with family members and peers (p. 13); adjustment of methods in accordance with the state and stage of each relationship; an understanding of the “general principles about children and youth, parenting, family and community systems” which are applied to individual family members and situations as appropriate; and an understanding of the importance of working within set boundaries and “nurturing interdependence between family members and other community systems” (p. 13). 

When working with families, it is important to consider how each relationship will be impacted by any given situation, understanding that relationships may not always be positive but working to ensure that the needs of individuals and families are being put first. For example, suppose a young girl whose family recently immigrated to the US is showing interest at school in the medical play area, pretending to be a doctor, but her parents are from a culture in which women stay home to care for the children and keep house and feel this type of play is inappropriate. The child and family life specialist must work with the family in order to come up with a plan to proceed, working to meet the best interests of the child and of the family as a whole, respecting their culture and the relationships they have with one another and maintaining a positive relationship between the family members and the professional. Another example is a family whose religious beliefs prevent them from participating in certain celebrations (birthdays, particular holidays, etc.) that the child’s preschool program celebrates regularly. In this case it is important to maintain the relationship with the family by ensuring their religious beliefs are honored, while also making sure that the child does not feel excluded at school. School staff would need to discuss the issue with the family and come up with a solution that works for everyone, for example allowing the child to participate in a special activity with another group during birthday celebrations. 

References

National Council on Family Relations. (2012). Tools for ethical thinking and practice in family life education (3 ed.). Minneapolis, MN: National Council on Family Relations.