Question

3. Please review the NASW Code of Ethics and discuss what components you find most appealing and what do you think maybe challenging for you as a professional social worker? *

Answer 1

It is Approved by the 1996 NASW Delegate Assembly and revised by the 2017 NASW Delegate Assembly.

It is intended to serve as a guide to the everyday professional conduct of social workers.

It consists of 4 sections:-

1) Preamble:-

It summarizes the social work profession's mission and core values.

The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being 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. A historic and defining feature of social work is the profession's focus on individual well-being in a social context and the well-being of society. Fundamental to social work is attention to the environmental forces that create, contribute to, and address problems in living.

2) Purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics :-

It provides an overview of the Code's main functions and a brief guide for dealing with ethical issues or dilemmas in social work practice.

Professional ethics are at the core of social work. The profession has an obligation to articulate its basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards. The NASW Code of Ethics sets forth these values, principles, and standards to guide social workers' conduct.

The NASW Code of Ethics serves the six purposes:-

1. It identifies the core values on which social work's mission is based.
2. It summarizes broad ethical principles that reflect the profession's core values and establishes a set of specific ethical standards that should be used to guide social work practice.
3. It is designed to help social workers identify relevant considerations when professional obligations conflict or ethical uncertainties arises.
4. It provides ethical standards to which the general public can hold the social work profession accountable.
5. It socializes practitioners new to the field to social work's mission, values, ethical principles, and ethical standards.
6. It articulates standards that the social work profession itself can use to assess whether social workers have engaged in unethical conduct.

3) Ethical Principles :-

It presents broad ethical principles, based on social work's core values, that inform social work practice.

Some principles are ;

✓Social workers' primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems.

✓Social workers challenge social injustice.

✓Social workers respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person.

✓Social workers recognize the central importance of human relationships.

✓Social workers behave in a trustworthy manner.

✓Social workers practice within their areas of competence and develop and enhance their professional expertise.

4) Ethical Standards :-

It includes specific ethical standards to guide social workers' conduct and to provide a basis for adjudication.

These standards concern (1) social workers' ethical responsibilities to clients, (2) social workers' ethical responsibilities to colleagues, (3) social workers' ethical responsibilities in practice settings, (4) social workers' ethical responsibilities as professionals, (5) social workers' ethical responsibilities to the social work profession, and (6) social workers' ethical responsibilities to the broader society.

*Yes; Social workers challenge social injustice.

Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people.

Social workers' social change efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment,discrimination, and other forms of social injustice. These activities seek to promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic diversity.

Social workers strive to ensure access to needed information, services, and resources; equality of opportunity; and meaningful participation in decision making for all people.