Homework Help

He Won't Go There

Diana Carter

University of South Carolina

Introduction

The case is an exceptionally great social worker, Calvin Ellis who is in a difficult working relationship with Ellen James because of perceived poor communication between them two despite working together. In addition to this, in spite the fact the Calvin does a great job according to Dr. Haines, Champion’s principal, he goes beyond the ethical provisions of his duty and finds himself in a compromising situation.

Contextual Analysis

The case is made up of a number of situations and events that mainly seem to revolve around Calvin. The champion school offers therapeutic and rehabilitative services to students expelled from other schools in Jackson County. Given the high rates of crime, poverty and the economic effects of the 2008 global recession, the county is indeed, in need of social workers who can help restore the goodwill of the country. Jack Thomas attempts this by replacing the missing social workers, and in the process, Calvin is hired to work closely with field instructor and liaison Ellen James and Julia Cathcart. As social workers, they are required to uphold certain values such as integrity, the dignity of people, social justice, and competence as well as adhere to policies of the social work program. However, Calvin being an overly concerned counselor pays a visit to one of the students, which is against the policy. The case is, therefore, about conflicting interests and an ethical dilemma of adhering to policies or disobeying some of the policies to check on the well-being of individuals.

Problem Statement

The problem with the case lies with Ellen James who feels misled by Calvin. The field instructor feels Calvin did not share factual and important information with her and she is unsure of whether to proceed on to hold Calvin responsible for breaching his contract or bury the situation since it was well intended.

Alternative Strategies

The obvious strategies that can be adopted to address the problem at hand are holding Calvin accountable for his actions since he has breached the conditions of his contract. Ignore the incidence since Calvin has been doing a great job and influenced significant change in Champion school or seek the opinion of third parties who are not directly involved in the case for unbiased judgment (Saleebey). The objective is to come up with the best strategy that lets every involved party win. Holding Calvin accountable for his misconduct discourage such and similar behavior from taking place in future but it would also result in discouragement of extending efforts to check on the well-being of students. On the other hand, ignoring the case would likely promote the unwanted behavior of Calvin in as much as it would also encourage his efforts to change the society.

Recommendation

In a case like this one, the solution is to find a solution that works best for all the involved parties, that is, Calvin, the field instructors (Ellen); school’s principal, Dr. Haines; Trina Brown, Julia and the interests of the school. With this in mind, the best solution would be not to make Calvin answerable for the actions but to provide warning and encourage transparency for purposes of facilitating a great job in the school.

Ways of Knowing

This solution has been based on a combination of numerous factors including personal values, findings, and suggestions from empirical research studies, specific theories, and intuition. It is an extensively researched and well-thought-out strategy that applies to suit the interests of all parties involved in the case to make it a win-win situation.

Work Cited

Saleebey, Dennis. The strengths perspective in social work practice. Pearson Higher Ed, 2012.

Wolfer, T. A. "An introduction to decision cases and case method learning." Decision cases for advanced social work practice: Thinking like a social worker (2006): 3-14.