What follows is an ethical dilemma faced by a student intern who unintentionally acquires information about her client during the course of the field seminar. read the following case and give some thought to the dimensions of the ethical dilemma and how you, as the social worker, would decide what action to take.

julia is a social work intern placed at a local family services agency. over the course of the last six months, she has worked with carla rodriguez to reunify her with her three children, ages 11, 4, and 3. carla (age 28) is the mother of tatiana (age 11), derrick (age 4), and angel (age 3). the children were removed to foster care when charges of neglect were substantiated. derrick and angel were placed in separate foster homes, and tatiana stayed with carla' sister. carla' drug addiction limited her ability to care for her children, who were found to be living in squalid conditions. while the children were in foster care, carla made a concerted effort to have the children returned to her care. she entered and completed a drug treatment program, and claims now to be âcompletely drug free.â carla entered similar programs twice before; this is the first time she completed a program. the children were reunified with their mother two months ago. carla has been drug free for a number of months and is meeting the minimum standards of care for her children.

in the field internship seminar, social work interns were exchanging information about their cases. an intern placed in a local junior high school asked her peers for advice about the group she is running. taking precautions to change the names and identifying details of the group members, the intern spoke about âmary'â fears about her family being broken up again âafter they just got back together.â her mother isnât âdoinâ the bad drugs anymore, but she smokes pot with her boyfriend in the apartment.â âmaryâ tells the group that her mother told her ânot to say nothing to nobodyâ if she doesnât want to split up the family. âmaryâ doesnât want her mother' social worker to find out about the drug use.

julia, the intern working at the family services site, realizes that the client being described is the daughter of her client, carla. carla has adamantly denied any drug use and always appears âstraightâ at the time of the agency visits. julia has no firsthand evidence to suggest that carla is using drugs. julia wonders what to do with this information.

the questions

there are many questions for julia to consider as she decides how to use the information she has just acquired. the following are questions that social workers might raise in resolving this ethical dilemma and determining what action to take. do you believe that julia is obligated to report carla' drug use, and if so, to whom should this report be made? julia must be clear about which client she owes primary responsibility to. if her obligation is to protect the children, she might feel more compelled to report carla' drug use, as it may involve the children' safety. if, on the other hand, julia is carla' advocate, might she âoverlookâ carla' occasional use of marijuana, perhaps believing that the risk to the children is not great? the social worker' beliefs about family unity and the local foster care system are also factors that will influence the decision to act. is the risk to the children greater if the family unity is again disrupted? what are the harms/benefits to the children of being returned to foster care? are the same foster homes still available? could the disruption caused by foster care possibly be greater than the consequences of carla' recreational drug use?

these are just some of the questions raised by this ethical dilemma; you may have identified others. julia may worry that if she confronts carla with the information about her drug use, carla will deny the allegation and the relationship will be irreparably damaged. if the client demands to know the source of the information, should julia indicate that it actually came from her daughter in the course of a group counseling session? what are the consequences and risks of this disclosure for tatiana? should the 11-year-old be placed in this position? imagine the anger that tatiana might have for a social worker who uses the information she disclosed in confidence against her family.

finding a solution

so, what are the ârightâ answers and what is the âsolutionâ to the dilemma? by its very nature, an ethical dilemma is a situation for which no one solution is ârightâ or âcorrect.â if there is no ârightâ answer, how then can a social worker be expected to resolve the dilemma?