From the Front Lines : Student Cases in Social Work Ethics

This text can be used as a supplement in any course that includes consideration of social work ethics, whether in social work practice courses, introduction to social work courses, or courses or seminars on social work ethics.

The author, Juliet Rothman, found that case material in current ethics texts is too brief to permit a thoughtful evaluation and decision-making process.

Available ethics casebooks are from the medical field, and do not reflect many situations encountered by social workers.

The text presents the elements of ethical decision-making, to provide students with a clear guide to ethical problem recognition and definition.

It stresses the importance of gathering necessary information and presents three alternative, frequently-used systems of theories and principles (Gewirth's Ethical Principles Hierarchy, Loewenberg and Dolgoff's Ethical Principles Screen, and Beauchamp and Childress' Bioethics Model).

The second part of the text includes 30 cases contributed by students from situations actually experienced during their field work practice.

Students themselves had asked for a casebook that related directly to situations they were encountering in the field. Useful and practical examples of ethical problems, information necessary to their proper resolution, and the students' thought processes were edited, revised, and arranged to support and reflect the six Ethical Standards in the new NASW Code of Ethics, enacted in August of 1996.

Clear and readable cases present examples drawn from child welfare, work with families, medical social work, social justice, and others.

Each case is followed by five questions for thought and class discussion to stimulate ethical thinking.

Two separate Tables of Contents allow instructors and students to find appropriate cases based on the Ethical Standards of the Code, or upon a field of practice.