Ethics
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Ethics Alive! Ethical Responses to Conflict With Our Social Work Colleagues
How should aggrieved social workers respond when they believe that a colleague has behaved unprofessionally, rudely, or incompetently? The NASW Code of Ethics suggests that we should treat our colleagues with respect.
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Ethics Alive! Before You Sign: Understand Confidentiality Provisions, Noncompete Clauses, and Other Terms of Employment for Social Workers
Confidentiality? Noncompete? Be sure that you have a clear understanding of key contractual terms, and their ethical implications, before accepting your next social work job.
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Ethics Alive! Social Workers and the Ethics of Follow-Up and Termination With Clients Who Disappear
What are a social worker’s ethical obligations when clients do not show up for services? Consider a client who misses a scheduled meeting with you. You follow up, but the client does not respond. What now?
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Ethics Alive! Coconuts and the Value of Social Relationships
“You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?” As social workers, we can relate this recent meme to our clients and make coconut PIE (person-in-environment).
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Ethics Alive! The Ethics of Work-Based Versus Personal Advocacy
Be aware of the limits of agency-based advocacy and consider when it might be more appropriate to advocate using your personal time and resources. We must navigate the complexities of advocacy within organizational contexts with integrity.
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Ethics Alive! Social Work Values and Roles in Times of War
In times of war, terrorism, and violence, many people grapple with a broad range of emotions. As social workers, it is crucial for us to recognize these emotions in ourselves and manage them effectively.
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Ethics Alive! Anti-DEI Laws, Moral Distress, and Student Roles
A concerning trend has emerged as 22 states have introduced or enacted legislation that would restrict DEI initiatives and the teaching of DEI. These laws may present social work educators with a conflict between ethical and legal responsibilities.
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From Classes to Cases: Education and Real-World Experience Shape Our Understanding of Social Work Ethics
Understanding ethics in social work isn’t as simple as taking a class and learning everything you need to know. The story of Maria illustrates the complexity.
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Ethics Alive! Artificial Intelligence: Tricks or Tools for Social Work Education and Practice
The simple fact of “using” or “not using” AI does not dictate whether social work students are acting ethically. Similarly, there are both ethical and unethical ways in which students can use a variety of technologies.
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Ethics Alive! Urgent Alert—Some States Have Banned Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender Minors. What Are Social Workers’ Responsibilities?
Florida, Georgia, Texas, North Dakota, Arizona, and other states have recently banned or restricted various forms of gender-affirming health care with transgender people. Social workers play important roles as advocates for access to services.
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Ethics Alive! Silence Is Not Golden - Advocating for Social Justice and Responding to Retaliation
When it comes to advocacy for social justice, silence is not golden. We need to say something and do something. At the same time, we need to be mindful and strategic and prepare for possible pushback and retaliation.
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Ethics Alive! To Be Honest... Is It Okay for Social Workers To Embellish in Job Applications and Job Interviews?
Although many people embellish their résumés and withhold relevant information, there are many good reasons for being honest with prospective employers. Being true to our values, virtues, and ethical principles means being honest with others.
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Ethics Alive! Anti-Woke Laws and Social Work Ethics
With recent backlash against the term woke, anti-woke laws have been proposed in at least 17 state legislatures in 2022, and Florida enacted its own “Stop WOKE Act.” What is a social worker to do when such laws affect ability to practice ethically?
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Ethics Alive! Abortion Care and Social Work After Dobbs
In response to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, Dr. Allan Barsky explores ethical issues for social workers in assisting those seeking abortion care but practicing in states that prohibit or restrict access to abortion-related services.
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Ethics Alive! Ethical Conundrums for School Social Workers in Light of Legal Restrictions on Discussing Gender and Sexuality
Ethical challenges arise when school social workers (SSWs) are faced with conflicting ethical codes, laws, and policies. In particular, this article focuses on laws restricting SSWs’ ability to discuss sexuality and gender with students.
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Ethics Alive! Narrative Ethics and the Value of Storytelling
Narrative ethics is an approach to exploring ethical issues by engaging people in storytelling. It is based on social constructionism, and there is no singular objective truth. Instead, it is relational and situational.
Ethics Alive! Anticipatory Dual Relationships in Social Work*
Dual relationships may be concurrent or sequential, intentional or unintentional. By anticipating dual relationships and conflicts of interest, we can plan how to navigate the ethical issues rather than simply reacting to problems after they arise.
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Ethics Alive! The Ethics of SocBots: Imagining Siri and Alexa as the Next Generation of Social Workers
Can Siri and Alexa be programmed with social work values, knowledge, critical thinking, and communication skills? Is this the "new" social worker of the future? Can SocBots learn and adapt to provide better, more ethical services?
Ethics Alive! Money, Money, Money
You may be familiar with traditional forms of payment, but what about digital payments for social work services? We explore the ethics of using various means of exchange for our services.
Ethics Alive: Special Report on the 2021 Revisions to the NASW Code of Ethics
In recent additions to the NASW Code of Ethics, self-care has been added as paramount for competent, ethical social work practice. Also, social workers must take action against oppression, racism, discrimination, inequities and acknowledge privilege.
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