Question

Question 5 What is one appropriate way to respond to a legal issue when providing services to a person?

Question 6 Provide two types of ethical issues that may arise when providing services to a person.

Answer 1

5  You must always act in a professional, competent and ethical manner and you need to be familiar with laws, rules, standards and regulations relevant to the community services industry. These protect the rights of both individuals and workers. They also ensure high-quality and safe services are provided.

The principle of duty of care is that you have an obligation to avoid acts or omissions, which could be reasonably foreseen to injure of harm other people. This means that you must anticipate risks for your clients and take care to prevent them coming to harm

Pro-actively share feedback with colleagues and supervisors.Identify and take opportunities to contribute to the review and development of policies and protocols.

Identify situations where work practicescould be improved to meet legal and ethical responsibilities.

6

Confidentiality Involving Minors

Although information shared between social workers and their clients is strictly confidential, certain situations may arise that require the social worker to disclose client information to a third party. Sometimes these situations include minors who may or may not be entitled to certain rights of confidentiality, depending on federal, state and agency laws. Acting in these situations may prove both difficult and painful because they can feel to both parties like a major breach of trust

Differences in Personal Values

Sometimes, clients need a type of assistance that conflicts with a social worker’s personal moral beliefs. A pregnant client, for example, may ask her anti-abortion social worker for help obtaining an abortion. Social workers may feel torn between providing a type of service requested and maintaining a positive relationship with the client. They may want to encourage the client to choose another alternative. However, they must ultimately follow the NASW policy statement, Family Planning and Reproductive Health, which states support for clients to make their own decisions about sexuality and reproduction