Social Work/Issues and Ethics

) The dilemma in this issue is whether or not the social worker should disclose her client 's potentially dangerous relationship to her parents who have asked the social worker to do so . The code says that the social worker is primarily accountable to the client although at times this accountability may be superseded by the accountability to society ) The social worker primarily owes confidentiality to the client ) Having mentioned the dilemma in (1 , we proceed to the issues involved . The first issue is the confidentiality of information revealed by the client to the social

worker . The second issue is the parents right to know on what is happening to the client (their daughter , and the third issue is the risk that the client might be in because of her continued exposure to her drug pushing boyfriend . In the code , it is mentioned that the client 's interest is the social worker 's primary concern . It is also mentioned that although the social worker should keep information volunteered by the client confidential , this is not an absolute rule and can be bypassed in the presence of compelling professional reasons ' such as when the safety of the client is involved . Also it is mentioned that the social worker may disclose information to people who are legally authorized to give consent for the client . According to relevant laws , a minor who has able parents taking care of him or her are within the care and responsibility of those parents . Hence , the parents acting as legal guardians should be adequately informed of any dangers that their child may face . Therefore the balance of the consultation tilts towards disclosing the information . The social worker can choose to not inform the client 's parents and let her continue her relations with her boyfriend , not inform the parents but caution her against seeing her boyfriend , or inform the parents . In the first two options , the trust between social worker and client is kept at the risk of the client falling prey to drugs and a dangerous boyfriend . In the 3rd option , trust may be lost but the value is the protection of the client . Hence , the social worker must choose to inform the parents because this is what acts in the best interest of the client and the parents have a right by law to know...