Problem
Scenario I
You are working as a manager at a service that supports people with disabilities to find work. There has been a recent influx of clients looking for meaningful employment and your service has recently hired two new support workers to assist.
Shelley, one of the new disability support workers was on the phone talking to a prospective employer for Mila, one of the centre's clients. Mila is 57 years old and suffering from anxiety and depression as a consequence of family violence.
You overheard Shelley telling the employment provider about how Mila was almost beaten to death by her husband a year ago.
i. Identify the legal or ethical responsibility that has been breached
ii. Identify the organisational policy, procedure, codes of practice that are relevant to this situation and may inform you on how to respond to this situation.
iii. Identify and explain strategies and actions that have to be undertaken to respond to the issue, including investigations, written and verbal communications, possible sanctions that may involve workers and service users.
iv. Identify opportunities for change or continuous improvement and how these can be implemented.
v. Identify ways in which the strategies and actions implemented will be monitored and evaluated.
Scenario II
A local community club wants to take a group of clients from Fairfield Community Centre out for a picnic. They have asked John, one of the new care workers, to give them a list of people that they can contact and invite for this activity.
After the last picnic hosted by this community club, family members complained about the way the clients were treated - they were on the sun most of the day and there wasn't enough food and drinks provided.
Fairfield Community Centre relies on the financial support of the club despite having some concerns about the way their clients are treated by club members. John thinks the picnic is a great idea, especially if some of the more difficult clients can go as it well give him and the other workers a bit of a break for the day.
John gives the list of client names to the community club with details of their special needs. John does not inform the clients about the activity because he knows that many of them will not want to go.
Angela, one of the clients, found out and tells John that she does not want to attend. John informs Angela that she has to go and that the fresh air will do her good. Angela was quite upset and tells her daughter about the incident. Her daughter then requested for a meeting with you as the Centre Manager and complained about why her mother was being pressured to attend the picnic.
i. Identify the legal or ethical responsibility that has been breached
ii. Identify the organisational policy, procedure, codes of practice that are relevant to this situation and may inform you on how to respond to this situation.
iii. Identify and explain strategies and actions that have to be undertaken to respond to the issue, including investigations, written and verbal communications, possible sanctions that may involve workers and service users.
iv. Identify opportunities for change or continuous improvement and how these can be implemented.
v. Identify ways in which the strategies and actions implemented will be monitored and evaluated.
Scenario III
Jeremy is a community support worker supporting Sarah in an alcohol and other drugs (AOD) program. He receives a phone call from Sunny, Sarah's mother, telling him there is a family event coming up and she is trying to decide whether or not to invite Sarah. She doesn't want Sarah around other children in the family if she is still using drugs and asks Jeremy for information. Jeremy tells her that Sarah is still using drugs and that she should probably not be invited to the family event.
When Jeremy sees Sarah next, he sees bruises on Sarah's arms and wrists. Sarah tells him that when her mother came to visit her, they got into a fight over Sarah's drug problem. She also tells him that this happens all the time, so he shouldn't worry about it. Jeremy is unsure of whether to report it or not, as he feels he contributed to the situation by telling Sunny that Sarah was still using drugs. He decided not to report it to you, as his supervisor because he thought he will get into trouble.
The next day, Sarah's counsellor visited the Centre and asked to speak to you about his concerns about Sarah's bruises. As you weren't aware of any incident reports about Sarah, you spoke to Jeremy and asked if he noticed the bruises and if he knew what had happened.
Jeremy then owned up and told you about the incident with Sunny, Sarah's mother.
i. Identify the legal or ethical responsibility that has been breached
ii. Identify the organisational policy, procedure, codes of practice that are relevant to this situation and may inform you on how to respond to this situation.
iii. Identify and explain strategies and actions that have to be undertaken to respond to the issue, including investigations, written and verbal communications, possible sanctions that may involve workers and service users.
iv. Identify opportunities for change or continuous improvement and how these can be implemented.
v. Identify ways in which the strategies and actions implemented will be monitored and evaluated.