Ethics Paper

SWK395
10/20/2022
Maggie N. Murray

Allan Barsky’s Mock Case Analysis

Social work is an expansive career that deals directly with people and communities. That
being said, confidentiality of the people we work with and strong moral and ethical codes of
conduct must be evaluated for proper practices. It is imperative to social workers to familiarize
themselves with this terminology and digest and comprehend the NASW code of ethics.
Ethics can be described as the set of morals and guiding principles our society has
deemed as acceptable. Ethics and morals are used interchangeably by many people though
they are actually quite different. Morals are slightly more personal systems of value than ethics
and in the social work world this can be challenging to navigate as you may feel morally
obligated to act in a certain way but ethically restricted. In that case you must abide by the
ethical codes of conduct and not by your own moral compass. Though these terms are similar to
and contain values (standards of thought/principles and importance held by an individual) they
differ in field practice as one's values may not align with the clients and should be put on the
back burner to ensure that ethical practice is present. Values and ethics are often confused with
one’s “beliefs” one’s beliefs can more or less be compared to an opinion or an idea that an
individual prescribes to. For example one may believe that abortions are inhumane and sinful
due to their value of religion and feel morally obligated to turn people away from getting this
service. However, by the NASW code of ethics a social worker is obligated to provide adequate
services to clients and in the case of a client looking for abortion services the worker should
abide by these standards to assist in providing an abortion service or request the client be
switched to another social worker. On the other hand using this example, some states may have
abortion services as illegal in which case the worker must abide by the law- which is a rule set
by the federal or state government.
In Allan Barsky’s video: Ethics and Values in Social Work: Client-Centered Processes for
Managing Ethical Concerns we watch 5 cases in which Allan portrays the role of a social worker
and the viewer assesses his practice in accordance with the NASW code of ethics and
standards. In the first scenario Allan enters the home of Ms. Cornish who is reported by her
neighbors to have unhealthy living conditions due to her amount of cats she cares for. Several
issues occur with the way Allan goes about this case with Ms. Cornish. The first notable issue is
he places his hand on her leg and she is visibly uncomfortable by this interaction while already
being in distress. This violates ethical standard 1.10 of the NASW code of ethics: physical
contact. He then gives details of who made the call, this goes against standard 1.07 privacy and
confidentiality in social work ethics. Following this he does not provide informed consent
(standard 1.03 NASW COE) to Ms. Cornish who is very confused and visibly upset that he has
entered her home. In this interaction Allan uses offensive language, stating that the client is
“crazy” and being culturally insensitive to her Irish background, attributing her emotional state to
that of her nationality. These violate standards 1.12 (derogatory language) and 1.05 (cultural
competency). It could also be stated that Allan breaks the law of entering a home without prior
warning or a warrant if the situation calls for such measures. Allan also threatens to call the
police on Ms. Cornish if she refuses to sign the paperwork (that she wasn’t given informed
consent of) to euthanize her cats. The potential ethical dilemma at hand is though Allan is not
complying with standards of social work, Ms. Cornish could genuinely be at risk for an unhealthy
living situation- so though she is refusing services due to the nature of Allan's approach
depending on the outcome he may have to involve law enforcement.
The next case we view is of an american Muslim woman named Maryam. Maryam is
seeking help for social anxiety as recommended by her doctor. This is a voluntary service
request from Maryam who states she is struggling with social anxiety. Maryam values her
religion and her family very highly but Allan has some complex views on cultural competency,
taking the majority of the session to question Maryam on her culture. Allan seems to value
traditional marriages as evident by his questioning of arranged marriage, and seems to imply
that Maryam may feel anxious due to her husband’s control which she did not bring up. He also
values female rights, which he discusses with Maryam as he is unsure of what that looks like in
her culture. Most of Allan’s questions directed towards the Muslim religion are based off of
biases and stereotypes, he even brings up the possibility of her family members being involved
in terrorism and wants to make sure this isn’t an issue. These are violations of some of the 6
core values in social work:
● Social justice: Allan is not being religiously inclusive and using bias and stereotypes that
promote social injustice.
● Competency: Allan is using his client to educate himself on Muslim culture and values
instead of being educated or educating himself prior to the meeting. He should not have
agreed to Maryam's case without being competent in her culture.
● Importance of human relationships: Allan is not building a good repertoire with Maryam
by using stereotypes and consistently implying that she is not american by comparing
 her to “Americans” and at one point using the term “normal person” while referring to
others that are not her. Which also goes against Dignity and Worth of the Person
● Service: It is not until the very end that Allan fully addresses the issue Maryam came to
him for when that should be the goal of the session at large.
I will mention one strength that Allan possessed in this interaction with Maryam. Allan was able
to see that this relationship was not a good fit and he asked Maryam if she would feel more
comfortable with a female social worker. This is culturally competent of the muslim values
between male and female interactions and upholds Maryams integrity as a client to seek a
comfortable relationship with a worker she feels safe with. This is also in accordance with ethical
standard 1.17 a social workers duty to refer clients to services that may better suit their needs.
Allan moves on to work with a male client named Clarence who is seeking vocational
help after being let go from his job on the basis of what he believes to be discrimination against
his age. Allan starts off well by giving the client informed consent on how his session will work
and he answers Clarence’s questions clearly, making sure the client is comfortable. Clarence
has been made aware of the standards surrounding confidentiality, knowing if he states anything
that puts danger upon himself or others the confidentiality standards do not apply and Allan may
have to report it. However, Allan had some notable weaknesses in the NASW code of ethic
standards, creating an ethical dilemma when Clarence admits to shooting a homeless man
while under the influence of alcohol. Let’s assess a few of these standards from the NASW code
of ethics in relation to ethics with clients.
● 1.02 (self Determination) Allan could have stated this code of ethics outright by
addressing the meanings of self determination and how if he chooses to disclose
certain information that could hurt/has hurt himself or others he could reduce or lose
that self determination aspect.
● 1.03 (Informed consent) In standard 1.03 it states that a client can withdraw consent or
terminate the session at any time, Allen could have discussed this at the beginning with
Clarence as well as provided a document for Clarence to sign expressing that he was
informed of these standards for his time with Allen. Allen also failed to mention an
important aspect of confidentiality with Clarence and that is if the client is called to court
for any reason Allen could be called to come in to testify.
● 1.07 (Privacy and Confidentiality) For standard 1.07 it seems to be in a slight ethical gray
area. Allen could disclose to Clarence that he intends on discussing the event where he
shot someone to the police without disclosing his information if Clarence gives consent.
In terms of wording the standards seem to imply if the event has happened in the past it
 is not within Allens grounds to disclose confidential information however if the event is
happening currently or could happen again that would be an issue. Allen could have
disclosed that though Clarence was acting in what he thought was self defense he was
operating a firearm under the use of alcohol which is dangerous and illegal and he could
have seriously hurt himself or more people if he chooses to drink and use his gun again.
Overall this is a hard portion for me to assess because I believe Allen did almost
everything right in this case with the exception that minor tweaking to his wording could
have potentially made things better for clarence. That being said Allen left out a very
important detail in explaining the confidentiality to Clarence and that was the potential
that if Clarence is called to court Allen could be subpoenaed to come in and testify.
This difficult issue in Clarence’s case is the timing of the illegal event. Since the event happened
previous to Clarence and Allans case relationship it could mean Allan cannot take retroactive
action against Clarence. However legally Clarence used a firearm under the influence of alcohol
and drove away afterwards, these are both extremely illegal and also dangerous activities.
Since Clarence is not exhibiting signs of actively being a danger to others or himself this may
remain confidential but as Allan stated if he is called to court over this issue he will have to state
that Clarence did tell him. Unfortunately Allan has told Clarence he should seek legal advice
from an attorney and his language makes it seem like he will breach confidentiality over this
situation. After this Clarence states he will also get a lawyer to assess Allan’s illedged
malpractice. If I were Allans supervisor I would in turn advise him to seek legal counseling to
ensure that he did not violate his role in confidentiality.
The following case addresses a woman named Dora who is seeking assistance for her
addiction to opiates as requested by her employer. Allan was very thorough in his explanation of
services to Dora and he notified Dora that if at any moment she wanted him to slow his pace or
reschedule the session she could tell him. He did give a detailed description of the services that
the inpatient program provided. He was open and honest about the availability of the treatment
and what the treatment would entail. Allan also informed her that her time at treatment would all
be confidential. I will say that Allan bounced around from topic to topic when it was semi
apparent to him that Dora was not fully able to digest the information he was presenting. That
being said if Dora’s mental state is altered or compromised in any way, she is unable to properly
consent to treatment.
The last case we observe is someone who is involuntarily seeking services due to
accusations of physical assault. The client’s name is Estrella, she was arrested for physical
assault of her sister and has an assigned parole officer and anger management counseling. In
terms of confidentiality and informed consent Allen talks about how he does not report to the
court but he does talk to her probation officer. Though he informs her he would need to report to
the officer that she was at these sessions but he doesn’t tell them anything they discuss, just
that the client attended the meetings. He discusses the usual limitations of confidentiality and
how everything stays between them as long as it doesn’t involve potential dangers to herself or
others. He does not however, discuss the potential of him being subpoenaed to court in relation
to her case which should be discussed since this is an involuntary service for Estrella to keep
her out of jail. It also seems as though Allan’s explanations are unclear to Estrella as she
continues to ask him questions about confidentiality- this should be a red flag to Allan that his
explanations may be unclear. Despite this, Allan convinces Estrella to sign the consent form,
clients should never be convinced to sign anything, especially an informed consent form. Allan
states that this document is not a legal document. This is inaccurate as all informed consent
forms are legal documents. This misinformation violates NASW code of ethics standards 5.01
(integrity of the profession), 4.04 (dishonesty, fraud and deception) and 1.03 (informed consent).
The social worker could have gone about informing Estrella of the confidentiality in a more
ethical and digestible way. Since she is an involuntary client he informs her that he will be
informing her officer of attendance to services. It should be discussed how to maintain the
clients self determination and work on her goals without being implicative of anger issues which
Estrella does not believe she has. Allan needs to make sure the client is in full understanding of
confidentiality and contractual obligations regarding her parole officer and court. He also needs
to be honest of the importance of signing the informed consent form keeping in mind it is a legal
form and not signing it could have ramifications with her officer and what it means if she
chooses not to continue with services.
These mock cases are important for students to evaluate because it educates and
familiarizes us with the code of ethical standards and gives examples on how to correctly or
incorrectly apply these standards to practice. Each case had strengths and weaknesses that we
all may come across when dealing with ethical dilemmas in the social work field.
Alexander Street (Producer), & . (2018). Ethics and Values in Social Work: Client-Centered
Processes for Managing Ethical Concerns. [Video/DVD] Microtraining Associates. Retrieved
from
https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/ethics-and-values-in-social-work-client-centered-proces
ses-for-managing-ethical-concerns

National Association of Social Workers (NASW). (n.d.). NASW - National Association of

Social Workers.
https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

Alexander Street (Producer), & . (2018). Ethics and Values in Social Work:
Client-Centered Processes for Managing Ethical Concerns. [Video/DVD] Microtraining
Associates. Retrieved from
https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/ethics-and-values-in-social-work-client-centere
d-processes-for-managing-ethical-concerns
Alexander Street (Producer), & . (2018). Ethics and Values in Social Work:
Client-Centered Processes for Managing Ethical Concerns. [Video/DVD] Microtraining
Associates. Retrieved from
https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/ethics-and-values-in-social-work-client-centere
d-processes-for-managing-ethical-concerns