Review the following 10 ethical situations - you may face any of these as a human services professional.
Comment on how you would respond and how you made that decision.
Did you use a particular NOHS Ethical Standard to help you in your decision making?
1) A client of yours is asking you to advocate for her child, who she suspects is learning disabled. Your client asks you to call the school and request testing for the child. The school has thus far refused such testing. Should you do this (why/ why not)? Is it ethical? Is it professional?
2) A human services professional who has received specialized training in running parenting workshops on communication skills decides to run a workshop at the local Holiday Inn. She rents a room and advertises int he paper "Learn how to Talk to Your Kid - Rid Your Family of All Communication Problems" Should she do the workshop (why/ why not)? Is the ad ethical? Professional? Legal?
3) Your supervisor tells you that he is going to have to report your client to social services for possible child abuse. You believe that reporting your client is breaking confidentiality and will have a negative effect on your relationship with the client. Is what he is doing ethical (why/ why not)? Professional/ Legal?
4) A client you have been seeing at a crisis center comes in and asks to see all records pertaining to him. These include crisis logs that have information in them about other clients, as well as case notes you have made concerning his contacts. What do you do?
5) While talking with a 15 year old male client, he informs you that on a recent vacation he was sexually molested by an uncle. He asks you not to tell his parents. What do you do?
6) A helper who is seeing a client who is HIV positive discovers that his client is having sex with others without revealing his HIV status. You tell him that you have a responsibility to report him to the police. Would this be ethical (why/ why not)? Professional? Legal?
7) While running a psycho educational group for substance abusers, you realize that a couple of the group members are using illegal substances. What should you do?
8) A friend of yours advertises that she is a Christian counselor. You discover that when clients come to see her, she encourages reading parts of the Bible during sessions and tells clients they need to repent and ask God to forgive them for their sins. Is this ethical (why/ why not)? Is tis professional? Is this legal?
9) You discover some fellow students making ethnic/ cultural slurs. what should you do? Have you encountered such behavior? What was or would be your response?
10) A classmate tells you that she sells flower extracts to clients to help them heal. She states this is the "wave of the future." Is this ethical (why/ why not)? Professional? Legal? Is this responsible? what if anything should you do?