Controversial Issues in Social Work Ethics, Values, and Obligations

Part of the popular Controversial Issues series, this paperback text presents a series of debates on the most current issues and topics in the area of social work ethics, values, and obligations. This book will help students and instructors at every level to think through issues of ethics, values, and obligations that arise in everyday practice. The format stimulates discussion and critical thinking, and will help students appreciate the complexity of ethical issues that arise in practice and encourage them to think through these issues for themselves. Issues addressed include: Do clients have a right to information in their mental health files?; Should the findings of ethics hearings be released to the public?; Is the NASW Code of Ethics an effective guide for practitioners?; Should private practitioners have an obligation to serve clients who cannot afford their customary fees?; and many more.

Table of Contents:
Preface. Introduction. I: DEBATES ABOUT PRACTICE. 1.  Should Clients Have Access to their Mental Health Records? Yes: Sheldon Gelman. No: Michele Winchester-Vega. 2.  Is it unethical for professional helpers to encourage or allow clients to become dependent on them? Yes: Jacinta Marschke. No: Sharon Freedberg. 3.  Does reliance on diagnostic labels help clients more than it hurts them? Yes: Larry Icard. No: Sheri F. Seyfried. 4.  Is the use of fringe therapies—those lacking substantial theoretical or scientific merit—unethical? Yes: Norman Cobb. No: Cathleen Jordan. 5.  Should social workers enroll as preferred providers with for-profit managed care groups? Yes: Robert Gorden. No: Paul M. Kline II: DEBATES ABOUT THE USE OF COERCION. 6.  Does the goal of preventing suicide justify placing suicidal clients in care? Yes: Andre Ivanof. No: Tomi Gomory. 7.  Does coercion have a legitimate place in the treatment of legally competent clients? Yes: Ray Liles. No: Carol H Meyer. III: DEBATES ABOUT SELF REGULATION OF THE PROFESSION. 8.  Is the public adequately protected from incompetent practitioners through licensing? Yes: Joan E. Esser-Stuart. & Paul H. Stuart. No: Charles Atherton. 9.  Should the findings of ethics hearings be released to the public? Yes: William Butterfield. No: Colleen Galambos. 10.  Is the NASW Code of ethics an effective guide for practitioners? Yes: Kathleen E Murphy. No: Sandra Kopels. 11.  Do the ethical standards of the profession carry a higher authority than the law? Yes: Rufus Sylvester Lynch & Jacquelyn Mitchell. No: Jacquelyn Mitchell & Rufus Sylvester Lynch. 12.  Is the Code of Ethics as applicable to agency executives as it is to direct service practitioners? Yes: Elaine Congress. No: Burt Gummer. 13.  Are professional helpers obliged to talk to a colleague about his or her unethical behavior and, if that is ineffective, report the matter to peers or higher authority? Yes: Frederick G. Reamer. No: Max Siporin. IV: DEBATES ABOUT PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING. 14.  Does professional education adequately prepare students to resolve ethical problems of practice? Yes: Wendy Kugelman. No: Frederick G. Reamer. 15.  Are professional practitioners ethically bound to keep abreast of the research literature in their respective fields? Yes: Cheryl Richey. No: Sung Sil Lee Sohng. V: DEBATES ABOUT SPECIAL CLIENT POPULATIONS. 16.  Is it ethical to presume the competency of runaway/homeless children who are seeking care at a runaway and homeless shelter? Yes: Joanne M. Remy & Linda Glassman. No: Karen M. Staller & Stuart A. Kirk. 17.  Is the number of social workers in private practice a measure of how far the profession has strayed from Its historic obligation to serve the poor? Yes: Gary Lowe. No: P. Nelson Reid. 18.  Is there a strong ethical case for disallowing or discouraging interracial adoptions? Yes: Raymond L. Bending & Teresa C. Jones. No: Christine T. Lowery. 19.  Are private practitioners obligated to serve at least some clients who cannot afford their customary fees? Yes: Kimberly Strom-Gottfried. No: Gary Labella & Betsy Owens