Key Values, Ethics, and Skills for Working with People ● 61Social work codes of ethics typically require that limitations of confidentiality
be explained to service users. When that protocol is followed, the confidential-
ity dilemma is less likely to arise. Appropriate practice protocols also ensure
that workers make decisions not in isolation but as members of professional
teams and that workers have professional supervision in which to discuss
difficult issues.
By drawing on ethical decision-making process models, the worker will
attempt to define the extent and impacts of the ethical dilemmas. This involves
gathering as much information as possible, drawing on many sources:
interviews with Aleena and Aleena’s children, and consultations with a
whole range of support groups and services. It would also involve reading the
literature, legislation, and practice manuals. It would also include consult-
ing with others, who could be line managers, colleagues, or other relevant
stakeholders. The ethical dilemmas will then need to be considered in light
of ethics theory and principles, for example, Guttmann’s work (2006). First,
the worker will need to critically reflect on the tensions between wanting the
best for Aleena (principle of beneficence) and wanting Aleena to maintain
her autonomy—which would be challenged if, for example, the worker sug-
gested that Aleena reduce her drinking. Second, the worker would need to
resolve how to achieve just (social justice) outcomes for both the mother and
her children. Some of these needs might be able to be met equitably by, for
example, advocating for increased childcare support to allow positive experi-
ences for Aleena’s children and respite time for Aleena. But achieving just
outcomes for both Aleena as well as her children might pose ethical dilem-
mas because the need to protect the children from the harmful effects of
their mother’s excessive alcohol intake might lead to their needs being placed
above hers. Regarding Aleena’s illegal shoplifting activity, the worker will
need to be mindful of agency guidance on such matters because there may
be specific protocols for reporting such behavior, thus taking some of the
decision making out of the worker’s hands. In order to make a fully informed
ethical decision, the worker will need to consult ethics codes, relevant legisla-
tion, agency policy, and professional standards or rules. Most important, the
worker will critically reflect on decisions that are made, both during and after
the decision making. The decisions may need to be reviewed in light of their
impacts or any new information.
Throughout any decision-making process, the worker must understand
his or her own motives and values and continue to apply core skills—like
empathy, positive regard of the client, and use of self—in all dealings with
Aleena. In order to achieve a positive outcome for Aleena and her family, the
worker will need to be knowledgeable and competent in a diverse array of
values, ethics, and skills.