Question: Read scenarios A and B, and respond to the following for each:
Identify what makes each situation an ethical dilemma, citing the Code/Standard you are applying.
Describe the steps you would take, who or what agency or resource you would contact, and what you would say.
Scenario A: You are a social worker facilitating a family in therapy. You find out through an anonymous tip that one of the family members has committed a felony and lied about his involvement to the authorities. An innocent person is being accused of the felony.
Scenario B: You are a social worker facilitating a Portuguese-American family in therapy. Pilar and Acasio are the mother and father, and their child, Brittany, has a disability. The family lives on a mostly subsistence level, with the mother working as a hairdresser and the father a fisherman. The parents tell you that they contacted the local social services department because they need help with their daughter, Brittany. They can barely afford to feed her, and her disability means that she should qualify for public assistance. When the worker came to visit them, they had cleaned the house very nicely, and Brittany also looked very good. They later learned they were denied services. So, enraged, they decided to "mess up" their house by throwing stuff around and dressing Brittany in raggedy old clothes. They requested that another worker come out and this worker decided they were eligible for services. "We had to look and act as if we were crazy and negligent before being deemed eligible for services," says Pilar. They got some assistance, but it still wasn't enough to cover all of Brittany's expenses and needs for her care.