Social Work and Multicultural Counseling Chapter

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Professional Social Worker: Ethical DilemmaCase ContextOne difficult situation arises when dealing with a situation which challenges the social worker’s belief in elevating each and every single client to her fullest potential. In one particular instance, a woman from a very conservative Muslim family who had emigrated to the United States when she was a teenager approached the social worker for assistance with her fifteen-year-old daughter. Her daughter was no longer covering her hair, had gone to Planned Parenthood to obtain birth control to have sex with her boyfriend, and was also cutting school occasionally and not doing her homework at home (although the daughter did manage to complete it at school, most days). On one hand, the social worker must take into consideration that the girl is a minor and may be putting herself at risk in the above-cited scenario. On the other hand, the girl is also engaging in normal teenage acting out to some degree, and although her grades were poorer, she was not in danger of failing school, nor was she abusing drugs or getting involved in risky activities.The mother was concerned because the girl was engaged in behavior that would not have been normal in the family’s original social environment, and because the mother was deeply religious. She also feared the father’s (her husband’s) reaction. The family was low-income and had initially sought assistance from the social worker for financial reasons after the mother lost her part-time job at a grocery store due to downsizing, and had maintained a relationship with the social worker to seek out counseling for her depression and other issues. She often spoke about her daughter to the social worker.The social worker might know that the parents showed no evidence of abuse, but there were still difficulties given the economic pressures the family was experiencing, the conflict of social and religious values, and the desire of the daughter to assimilate and the parents’ belief structures. The social worker has a responsibility to the client, but also an obligation to protect and support minors. As a social worker, I would have to be highly self-conscious of my own biases in such an instance, given that I would naturally be inclined to support the girl’s rebellion as normal, given my own upbringing (Hepworth, et al., 2017).

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However, it is important to remember that the mother, not the girl was my client, although I have an obligation to behave ethically towards all members of the family as a social worker, particularly since the girl was a minor.Analysis and ProblemAccording to the NASW Code of Ethics: “Social workers should obtain education about and demonstrate understanding of the nature of social diversity and oppression,” including religion and gender (1.05.d). Although I may need to explain to the mother that I cannot compel her daughter to obey her and forgo having a boyfriend (so long as the girl does not disobey existing laws about truancy, put herself at risk, runaway, or break parental curfews), I must also weigh the pros and cons with the mother of taking a heavy disciplinary hand. In this instance, regarding the mother’s desire to place more restrictions upon her daughter, with the threat of forcing the girl to go live with her even more strict grandparents, where the girl will not be able to see her boyfriend.Although the mother may have a legal right to do so, helping the mother understand why this might not be a wise decision, relative to the risk the boyfriend poses to the girl, or the girl’s current performance in school, might be one of my duties in the counseling capacity of social work. As a social worker, I would have a legal right to ensure that the minor daughter was not placed in a risky situation. On the other hand, I would also have to ensure confidentiality restrictions which might pertain to the daughter—for example, I might not be privy to her daughter’s school records, and even if the mother might wish to show them to me, ethically (versus legally), I would have to discuss with the….....

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