Audrey Knerring, the DHS Unit Supervisor, remarked that “it’s ethically justifiable” not to report ESL hours accurately for clients with no English literacy skills. Can you make this argument or not? Even if you can, is it worth the risk? Consider these questions in light of NASW’s Code of Ethics, particularly in light of the Code’s first, second, and fifth Ethical Principles and Ethical Standards Section One 1.01; Section Two 2.11; Section Three 3.04 and 3.09; Section Four 4.04; Section Five 5.01; and Section Six 6.04.
Nathan Bierwirth, BSW, worked as an employment counselor for Pathfinders Social Services, a nonprofit agency serving the Minneapolis metropolitan area. Pathfinders provided employment services for people leaving welfare, persons with disabilities, the homeless, and immigrants, refugees, and asylees. Part of Nathan’s caseload consisted of newly arrived refugees enrolled in Minnesota’s time-limited Refugee Cash Assistance–Employment Services (RCA-ES) program. Individualized Employment Plans (EPs) helped refugees transition from welfare to employment and self-sufficiency. EPs required a minimum of 35 hours per week of RCA-ES–approved activities, including employment services and formal education (limited to 20 hours per week). Nathan’s client, Ayana Tuma, a refugee from Ethiopia, had no educational or work experience and knew no English. This prevented her from effectively participating in employment service classes, so she enrolled in a full-time English as a Second Language (ESL) program. When Hennepin County audited Pathfinders, clients like Ayana, who exceeded the 20 hour instruction limit, could be sanctioned and even terminated from the program. As the audit approached, Nathan wondered if he should report Ayana’s ESL hours accurately or falsify her Employment Plan.
Students will likely be sympathetic to the plight of refugees like Ayana. Some may even concur with Audrey that, in certain situations, their responsibility to the unique needs of such clients could justify making an exception to the rule, particularly when the exception will be for a very small number of clients out of such a large combined caseload. What harm could come by bending the rules for six refugees for a matter of only a couple of months? What was the likelihood that the auditors would discover the fraud, even if they randomly selected one of these six clients’ case files? Unless someone tipped the auditors off, they would never know of any discrepancy between these six clients’ case files and their actual RCA participation. Despite such long odds on being discovered, some students may conclude that making even these six exceptions may be too costly. Discuss with students what “ethically justifiable” might mean for Audrey. Remember, she is not a social worker, and is therefore not obligated by the ethics and standards of the social work profession.
Audrey and Madison are both college-educated professionals, although neither studied social work. Nathan, however, was a practicing social worker. He was ethically and professionally bound by the NASW Code of Ethics. Several portions of the Code are applicable in this case. They include three Ethical Principles, those broad principles that found social work’s core values, and a number of Ethical Standards, some of which are ideals and others enforceable guidelines for professional conduct. The Ethical Principles include:
• Service: Social workers’ primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems.
• Social Justice: Social workers challenge social injustice.
• Integrity: Social workers behave in a trustworthy manner.
The Ethical Standards include:
• Section One: Social Workers’ Ethical Responsibilities to Clients: 1.01 Commitment to Clients
• Section Two: Social Workers’ Ethical Responsibilities to Colleagues: 2.11 Unethical Conduct of Colleagues, paragraphs (a), (b), (c), and (d)
• Section Three: Social Workers’ Ethical Responsibilities in Practice Settings: 3.04
Client Records, paragraph (a); 3.09 Commitments to Employers, paragraphs (c) and (d)
• Section Four: Social Workers’ Ethical Responsibilities as Professionals: 4.04 Dishonesty, Fraud, and Deception
• Section Five: Social Workers’ Ethical Responsibilities to the Social Work
Profession: 5.01 Integrity of the Profession, paragraph (a)
• Section Six: Social Workers’ Ethical Responsibilities to the Broader Society: 6.04 Social and Political Action, paragraphs (a) and (b)
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