The NASW Code of Ethics is the guideline for social workers in regards to professional conduct and practice. The Code of Ethics is divided into four parts: “The Preamble,” “Purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics,” “Ethical Principles,” and “Ethical Standards.” These sections educate social workers on what their mission is, and how they complete that mission with true morality. Within the Code, there are six values presented which are also used in regards to helping and practicing with clients honorably. These six values are: service, social justice, dignity and worth, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. These six values are the principles that drive social work practice, and are used by social workers everyday. The first value in the Code of Ethics is service. Personally, I believe this is one of the values that basically sums up social work. As a social worker, this value describes how one must help their client. By helping their client, they address obstacles that their client may be facing and help the client find the best available resources to assist them. Second, social justice is the next value described in the Code. This value describes what topics social workers focus on and work with. These can be topics regarding inequality, individuals living below the poverty line, health care, gender inequality and education. Social Workers strive to aid these issues and help clients who are facing these issues.
The third value is dignity and worth of a person. This is one value that has been stressed in my social work classes. In my social work practice class, we recently read a novel titled The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Dignity and worth of a person, was one value that I witnessed while reading this novel. The characters were from another country and had beliefs that were not considered “ideal” to society, and there were times that they were not given the best resources and care because of these beliefs. Dignity and self worth is a huge value to have when dealing with clients who may not have the same views and beliefs as you. It is important to be ethical and respectful when dealing with clients no matter what religion, socioeconomic status, gender, or race they are.
The codes in ethical behavior for both, the NASW, National Association of Social Workers, and the NAADAC, National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors, have more similarities than differences. It is thought by some students in the studies of Social Work, that if you adhere to the Code of Ethics it will generally encompass the code of the NAADAC.
Since the beginning of the profession the role of the social worker has changed. Gone are the days of simple charity and assistance for the poor. Now, social work has evolved into a vast profession that stretches its boundaries to many different entities. Schools, hospitals, mental health centers and community agencies are a few places where social workers are needed. Due to the growth and need for social workers, national organizations dedicated to the ethical practices of social workers developed codes of ethics which serves as a guide to the ethical and moral practices of social work. The National Association of Social Workers and the National Association of Black Social Workers are two organizations responsible for developing codes of ethics for social workers. This paper will look at the ethics codes for each organization to compare and contrast each. The goal is to find similarities and differences that can be tailored to successful social work programs.
They understand the value in ethical and professional behavior and the impact it has on their work. Social workers must maintain the highest form of ethical practice because of their intense work in the community. Social workers use NASW Code of Ethics to help them make the most ethical decision because they often hold a lot of weight. Social workers also know how to differentiate their personal beliefs even when in difficult situations. They do not mix their values as a social worker with their values as a person and therefore do not let their beliefs affect their work. Social workers understand the importance of maintaining professional behavior because it can affect their
In 1996, former President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PWORA), which brought reform to the welfare system. Under this act, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was replaced with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The enactment of this new program brought about several changes, including transferring the responsibility of welfare from the federal level to the state level, disentitlement to public assistance, and the implementation of work requirements to receive aid (Karger and Stoesz, 2014, p. 228). As social workers, it is important to understand this act and how it fits into our professional goals. While TANF does reflect many of the standards put in place by the National
My personal values are very similar to the NASW Code of Ethics’ values. Some of the main values of the NASW Code of Ethics are service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. These values are all important to me, as I always strive to be thoughtful of others’ feelings and opinions, work hard, and understand what is going on around me. To me, a very important part of the NASW Code of Ethics is Privacy and Confidentiality. As someone who has had a social worker, and has had multiple therapists and psychiatrists, confidentiality was very essential to me as a client. If not for confidentiality, I would not have been able to fully express how I was feeling. Another value that I believe to be critical is respect. Respect is one of my three main values for many reasons, especially when thinking about social work. My goal, as a friend and future social worker, is to
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) has written a code of ethics that serves many purposes. The main purpose is to identify the core ethics and values that provide the foundation for the profession. It details six basic principles for social workers to follow: service, social justice, dignity and worth, human relationships, integrity, and competence (National Association of Social Workers, 1999). The code acts as an ethical guide for students, and those professionals just
Providing social services can sometimes be a difficult task, with uncertainties and challenges. The codes of ethics are a set of core values for social work professionals. It is important for a social work professional to understand the ethics of social work to make ethical decisions. In this, a social worker must provide quality unbiased service. Professional social
Reading the Code of Ethic for National Association of Social Worker (NASW) I see that the code of ethics if pretty similar to my own set of values. Upon reviewing the code of ethics, it parallels how my approach to clients is treated regardless of their status in the community. The ethical principles are to ensure that dignity and worth of the person, social justice, and importance of human relations, integrity and competency is a service that should be afforded to anyone. These core values have the same purpose as does my job as a Veteran Service Office with one exception and that our code of ethics has “Do no harm”.
The NASW stands for the National Association of Social Workers. The NASW has made a code of ethics for all social workers to follow. The mission of practicing social workers is social justice for everyone, service to anyone in need, treating everyone with dignity and recognize their worth, understand the importance of human relationships, integrity in everything we’re involved in, and competence in the field. The NASW code of ethics has 6 purposes for social workers.
There are six core values outlined in the National Association of Social Work (NASW) Code of Ethics. These values include service, social justice, dignity and worth of a person, the importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. I am going to focus on social justice, dignity and worth of a person, and integrity. I feel that these values are imperative to the social work practice. The first core value I want to address is social justice.
An example of when I have violated someone’s confidentiality is when I told my sisters something that had happened to a good friend of mines. I assumed that my friend wouldn’t mind me telling my sisters, since they all know each other. My friend was in a situation where my roommates and I had to take her to the hospital. Even though I went to the hospital with her, and was by her side the whole entire time, looking back I should have not told my sisters about it. My friend was embarrassed about the situation, and did not talk about it until weeks later, and that should have been the first sign for me, that she was not comfortable with people knowing.
The Code of Ethics includes the principle that social workers should challenge social injustice while focusing primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and other signs. There Social Worker activities should promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression, cultural and ethnic diversity. In
The Code articulates standards that the social work profession itself can use to assess whether social workers have engaged in unethical conduct. NASW has formal procedures to adjudicate ethics complaints filed against its members.* In subscribing to this Code, social workers are required to cooperate in its implementation, participate in NASW adjudication proceedings, and abide by any NASW
Moreover, this case should be analyzed based on the information provided by the NASW Code of Ethics. The ethical principle included in the NASW Code of Ethics (2008) states that “social worker’s primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems…Social workers seek to resolve conflicts between clients’ interests and the broader society’s interests in a socially responsible manner” (p.5). Suzanne’s social worker would only have to seek for Suzanne’s well-being because if Suzanne and Cindy get separated, they can lose contact, which would affect Suzanne 's emotions.
In fact, one of the important code of ethics for social workers according to the National Association of Social Workers NASW, (2017) is that the social workers behave in a trustworthy manner, and they understand the import of evolving professional and trusting relationships with the students and families they serve.