Discussion 2: Reflecting on Cultural Humility and Ethical Competence

Running head: REVISION 1

REVISION 5

Ethical Code of Conduct

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Advanced human service practitioners are usually bound by law and have to perform their work within their rules. Without knowledge and understanding of the organization's policies and NOHS code ethics that are enforced in the profession, even the most seasoned and skilled practitioners can find themselves losing their license or even facing harsher penalties from the law. Although most service workers do not see themselves against the law, some end up receiving lawsuits and complaints about violations of ethic-related policies. The majority of the mistakes made by these human service workers are usually a blatant disregard. However, some are not intentional and can be caused due to confusion on whether to follow the policies or misinterpretation of the code of ethics.

The national association of social workers (NASW) is one of the largest human service organizations, bolsters the largest membership of professional social workers globally. It has various human services such as child welfare, clinical social work, and health services. The code of ethics issued by NASW is commonly used and referred to by human service providers based in the United States. The service practitioners are taught and expected to follow the policies that the organization issues. Although they are constantly trained to stay committed to their clients, certain actions that might go against specific legal obligations or their responsibility to society would limit their loyalty.

In the specialized field of clinical social work, the services provided include the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of psychological, emotional, and mental disturbances. It is common for individuals or groups of people like couples and family members to receive treatment. The human service practitioner who provides this service is always required to be licensed or certified to give clinical therapy. The therapy offered can usually take place in various locations and environments such as hospitals, private practice, and community health centers.

Practitioners in this field receive training that teaches them how to assess and learn about dealing with clients with mental health, disabilities, and issues that may arise during growth. They are trained to communicate with individuals of different ages and vulnerabilities (Subhedar, 2001). Training on the relevance of the policies and code of conduct laid down by the organization and the government is provided for the practitioners to be aware of how to conduct themselves when dealing with a client. They are also taught how to analyze, enforce and create care plans that are to be used when providing service to the client.

Practitioners usually have to observe various policies that NASW has set regarding the relationship they have with their clients and how they should conduct themselves. In the policy for the NASW, it is stated that the service practitioner should only provide their service on the condition that they maintain a professional relationship. They are also warned in the organization's policy not to take advantage of the professional relationship to further their political, religious, or personal interests. They are not to engage in any relationship that does not lie in a professional setting, such as engaging in sexual activities or visitations to each other's houses.

The importance of consent is emphasized a lot in clinical social work. The practitioner should not provide their services to the client without their permission. If the client is not literate and cannot understand the content of the therapy, it falls upon the practitioner to explain to the client about the session. When the practitioner issues the therapy without receiving consent, they should document the therapy and obtain a third person's consent or opinion. The practitioners are also urged to maintain and respect the client’s privacy and not reveal confidential information concerning their records. They should secure the personal information that relates to individuals mentioned in the records.

Ethic-related policies sometimes are not easy to follow and can lead even professional service providers to make mistakes without intention. This can be seen when a service practitioner counseled a couple in a private practice that eventually filed for a divorce. While trying to vie for the custody of their child, the mother commissioned an attorney who issued the social worker subpoena for records of the counseling session (Reamer, 2015). This was in hopes of finding concerns on the father that the service provider documented. The human service practitioner who was not familiar with the NASW code of ethics issued out the records to the attorney.

This was a clear violation of the ethics policies by NASW that stated that social workers should not present information pertaining to individuals discussed in the records without the individual's consent. As a result, the practitioner received a lawsuit from the father because of not maintaining the documents' confidentiality. The practitioner agreed to the allegations and claimed that he had not reviewed the code currently being used carefully enough since he graduated school before it was established. He did not know whether to give the records to the attorney in response to the subpoena since the mother had given her consent to issuing the documents. Without consulting a third party on how a service worker is supposed to respond to a subpoena, it became confusing whether to give the records or not.

The practitioner was met with a license suspension for revealing confidential information to other parties. The issue of confidentiality can be cause for ethical dilemmas when providing service to a client (Reamer, 1983). Even though it is forbidden for human service practitioners to reveal information on the client and the sessions they had, it is sometimes necessary to when the information is requested according to federal, state, or agency laws. These rights are commonly not included for minors, and disclosing the information may cause serious harm to the client. In the case of the practitioner in charge of the records in the case scenario above, the discloser of the information made him lose custody of his child, bringing emotional harm to the client.

In my view, it would have been better when dealing with a situation like that, the practitioner should have refused to issue the records without the client's consent. He should have observed the importance of support when administering the records (Burke, no date). However, since the new code was made after the practitioner had graduated school, it can be understandable why he was not aware of the new code. Further, the practitioner admitted to having been ignorant of the current code and not knowing whether the subpoena issued by the attorney meant that he had to produce and present the recordings to be used in the child custody case. According to standard 3 of the National Organization for Human Services (NOHS), the human service practitioner should protected the client's rights to confidentiality (Wark, 2016).

However, it is also debatable whether preserving the secrecy of the information pertaining to the father would have caused harm to the mother based on the conditions in standard 3, which relate to information disclosure. Misinterpretation of the conditions mentioned in standard 3 of the NOHS could also lead to ethical dilemmas. If the father had been causing harm to either the mother or the child, it would have qualified for the release of the records by the practitioner. Therefore, a lighter punishment would, in my opinion, been better for the clinical human service practitioner. When dealing with clients and client information, it is better to understand and maintain a relationship that functions within the ethical rules and guidelines mentioned in the code of conduct.

References

Burke, A. (no date) Ethical standards for HS professionals. Available at: https://nohs.memberclicks.net/ethical-standards-for-hs-professionals (Accessed: 19 July 2021).

Highlighted Revisions to the Code of Ethics (no date). Available at: https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Highlighted-Revisions-to-the-Code-of-Ethics (Accessed: 19 July 2021).

Reamer, F. G. (1983) ‘Ethical dilemmas in social work practice’, The Social worker, 28(1), pp. 31–35.

Reamer, F. G. (2015) ‘Ethical misconduct and negligence in social work’, Social Work Today, 15(5), p. 20.

Subhedar, I. S. (2001) Fieldwork Training in Social Work. Rawat Publications.

Wark, L. (2016) ‘The Ethical Standards for Human Services Professionals: Revision 2015’, Journal of Human Services. Available at: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&profile=ehost&scope=site&authtype=crawler&jrnl=08905428&asa=Y&AN=121220235&h=ioAraGnGrVuCof7FvAeM5OTFvE%2FcO0tdStq0rz%2BhD1Oa5DvB8Rf891E4GOfXwQJuB5YGQH05ysPvi0nGXVHE8Q%3D%3D&crl=c.