NASW Code of Ethics

The Code of Ethics is a guide for social workers'

ethical conduct and applies to all social workers and social work students, regardless of their membership in NASW, their work setting, or the populations with which they work.

The NASW Code of Ethics was written for the purpose of

explicitly stating the basic values, principles, and ethical standards of the social work profession.

The focus of the profession of social work is,

first, the well-being of the individual in the context of the environment and second, the well-being in society in general.

The principle of the casework relationship

include viewing the client as a unique individual, allowing the client to express feelings in a purposeful way, interacting with the client on a professional emotional level, responding to the client in a non-judgmental manner, and honoring the clients' right to self-determination and confidentiality.

Human beings have a desire to be treated as

individuals; they do not want to be categorized, stereotyped, or viewed as a "case".

Response

is achieved after sensitivity and understanding are accomplished. The social worker's response to the client on a feeling level (empathy) is one of the most important aspects of the therapeutic relationship. The social worker's response is not only verbal, but also a response of attitude.

Warmth

is defined as the social worker's pleasantness with a genuine show of interest in and care for the client.

Authenticity/genuineness

is shown when the social worker responds in a natural, open, and genuine manner to the client. Verbalilizations of the social worker are spontaneous and congruent (consistent with social worker's feelings and thoughts). The social worker makes appropriate self-disclosures.

An important aspect of the therapeutic relationshp

is the client's need for expression and for sharing experiences.

The primary mission statement of the profession is

"to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in povery".

There are some limitations to the client's expression of feelings, including the following:

- A client who is allowed to express deep feelings too early in the therapeutic process may feel embarrassed and guilty and then may be reluctant to continue in treatment. - Social workers need to be wary of clients putting their entire emotional burden on the worker. - Another limitation of the client's expression of feelings has to do with the purpose of function of the agency. If the agency's purpose is to provide short -term assistance, the social worker should not encourage the client to release intense feelings related to deeply disturbing emotional problems. - The uncontrolled expression of hostility toward the social worker or agency needs to be understood but not encouraged or reinforced.

There are ways in which the social worker can demonstrate that he or she is viewing and treating the client as an individual, such as the following:

- Thoughtfulness, such as making appointments that are convenient for the client's work schedule demonstrates that the social worker is sensitive to the client's individual situation. - Interviewing the client in privacy shows that the social worker respects the client's confidentiality. - Social workers who remember details of each client demonstrates that they view this client as an individual. - Social workers who are flexible and adjust treatment goals and therapeutic interventions to meet changes in the client's situation are also able to view the client as an individual.

The components of a strong therapeutic relationship include the following:

- empathy - warmth - authenticity/genuineness - trust

Social workers in agencies or individual social worker need certain skills in order to effectively treat clients as individuals. At a minimum, they need to have the following skills:

- knowledge about human behavior - good listening skills - a keen sense of observation - the ability to ace the interview - the ability to feel empathy with the client

Examples of interacting with the client on a professional emotional level include:

- sensitivity - understanding - response

The core values are as follow:

- service - social justice - dignity and worth of the person - importance of human relationships - integrity - competence

The client's expression of feelings is not usually a random expression, but rather one that is purposeful and is frequently related to the following:

- the client's problem - his or her need for acceptance - the desire to be treated as an individual - the need to be able to make his or her own decisions The social worker or agency therapist should listen to the client purposefully without discouraging or judging the expression of feelings.

The most recent version of the NASW Code of Ethics (2008) outlines ethical standards of behavior for social workers in six areas:

1. Social workers' ethical responsibilities to clients, 2. Social workers' ethical responsibilities to colleagues, 3. Social workers' ethical responsibilities to practice settings; 4. Social workers' ethical responsibilities as professionals 5. Social workers' ethical responsibilities to the social work profession, and 6. Social workers' ethical responsibilities to the broader society

Referral for services

A social worker has responsibility to refer a client to other professionals when the client requires services that the social worker is unqualified to provide. The referring social worker has the responsibility to assist the client in making the contact and arrangements for services with a new service provider. Social workers may not receive or give payment for a referral.

Client transfer

A social worker who is contacted for services by an individual who is currently receiving services from another agency or colleague should not agree to provide services until the client's needs and the nature of their relationship with their current service provide are carefully considered. A social worker who begins to work with a client who has previously received services from another agency or colleague should discuss with the client whether it would be in the client's best interest for the social worker to consult with the previous service provider.

Impairment of colleagues

A social worker with "direct knowledge" that a colleague's ability to provide services is being negatively affected by personal circumstances (e.g a mental illness or a substance abuse problem), has a responsibility, if feasible, to speak with the colleague about the problem and to encourage the colleague to get help. If the colleague is unwilling to get the needed help, the social worker should follow established procedures for notifying the appropriate person or entity.

Payment of services

Fees established for services by social workers should be "fair, reasonable and commensurate with the services performed", and important consideration in determining the fee for a service should be the ability of the client to pay. Generally speaking, social workers should not enter into bartering arrangements with clients (ie. they should not trade professional services for services and goods provided by the client).

Accepting the client

Human beings have a basic need to be recognized as a person of worth and dignity.

Public emergencies

In the case of public emergencies, social workers are responsible for providing appropriate professional services to the greatest extent possible.

Interacting with the client on a professional emotional level:

Individuals have a need and an expectation to receive s sympathetic response to their problem.

In the process of study, diagnosis, and treatment planning, it is unnecessary for the social worker to

judge or to blame the client. This is especially important as the client may have been criticized by others in the past. The client, because of his or her heightened sensitivity and feelings of guilt, will likely sense if a social worker has a judgmental attitude, verbalized or not.

Sensitivity

means that the social worker is able to accurately understand the feelings of the client. Sometimes clients are unaware to verbalize their feelings, either because they do not feel comfortable or because they are not able to articulate what they feel. Even if the client does not verbalize his or her feelings, he does communicate in other, often non-verbal ways. The social worker needs to utilize his or her social work skills to be sensitive to all aspects of the client's expression of feelings. If a client is from a different culture, it is especially important for the social worker to be sensitive to the fact and to take measures to work with the client in a culturally competent manner.

Empathy

Is the action of accurately reflecting the surface feelings of the client. High-level empathy involves the reflection of surface and underlying feelings and involves interpretation. Simply stated, empathy is the ability of the social worker to accurately receive the client's feelings, and the ability of the social worker to then communicate understanding of the client's feelings through accurate reflection. Empathetic responding demonstrates to the client that the social worker understands the client. Perhaps the most important function of empathy in social worker is its role in developing and strengthening the therapeutic relationship.

Trust

Occurs when the social worker establishes an atmosphere of safety and predictability for the client. Confidentiality must always be maintained unless the client is a danger to self or to others. Although the therapeutic relationship is important in most theories, it is more important in some therapies (e.g. psychodynamic therapy) than in others (behavioral therapy).

There are several purposes for the client to be able to safely express his or her feelings.

One purpose is to lessen the burden that the client is feeling, hopefully allowing the client to see his or her problems more clearly, and providing support by the social worker. Another purpose is for greater depth of understanding, including how the client feels about his or her problems.

Allowing the client to express feelings in a purposeful way:

People have a need to be able to express their feelings, both positive and negative. Feelings of sadness, insecurity, oppression, and other emotionally-laden feelings can be difficult for the client to express aloud. The social worker or agency social worker needs to be able to direct the interview in ways that will encourage the client to express feelings that are relevant to the problem being addressed.

Social Welfare

Social workers are responsible for the general welfare of society, as well as for the development of people, their communities and their environments. Social workers advocate for living conditions that are in harmony with the fulfillment of basic human needs and they have a responsibility to promote values and institutions compatible with the realization of social justice.

Education and training

Social workers functioning in the capacity of educators, field instructors, and trainers should provide instruction only in their areas of competence and should establish care, appropriate, and culturally sensitive boundaries. Social workers should take necessary steps to routinely inform clients when students are providing services. Social workers should avoid dual relationships with students and evaluate the performance of students in a fair and respectful manner.

Dispute involving colleagues

Social workers have a responsibility to avoid using a dispute between a colleague and employer to advance his or her own professional interests. Social workers should avoid involving their clients in disputes they are having with professional colleagues.

Public participation

Social workers have a responsibility to facilitate informed participation by the public in the shaping of social policies and institutions alike.

Termination of services

Social workers have a responsibility to terminate services to clients when the services are no longer needed or desired by the client. If a social worker determines that it is necessary to terminate the client prior to completion of services, the social worker should assist the client in finding another provider.

Unethical conduct of colleagues

Social workers have an ethical responsibility to ensure that the unethical behavior of a colleague is addressed either directly with the colleague, if this is appropriate, or to the proper authorities; social workers need to know the prescribed procedures for making ethical complaints. Social workers also have a responsibility to provide needed assistance to colleagues whoa re being falsely accused of unethical conduct.

Respect

Social workers have an ethical responsibility to treat their colleagues respectfully and to accurately represent their colleagues' qualifications, obligations and perspectives.

Confidentiality

Social workers have the responsibility to respect and protect confidential information obtained from colleagues and to ensure that their colleagues respect their need to protect confidential information as well.

Administration

Social workers in administrative positions should advocate within and outside of their agencies for adequate resources to address their clients' needs and for open and fair resource allocation procedures. Social workers should also take reasonable steps to ensure that the agency allocates sufficient resources to provide staff with appropriate supervision and that the working environment of the agency is in harmony with the NASW Code of Ethics. Social work administration should do all that they can to rectify situations in their organizations that are in any way a violation of the NASW Code of Ethics.

Labor-management disputes

Social workers may organize to improve client services and to improve working conditions.. The behavior of social workers involved in labor-management disputes, job actions, etc. should be in harmony with the values, ethical principles, and standards of the profession of social work. Any action taken by a social worker should be preceded by a careful examination of the issues and of the impact that his or her actions may have on clients.

Conflicts of interests

Social workers should avoid conflicts of interests, inform clients of real or possible conflicts of interests, and seek to resolve conflicts of interest in a manner that promotes and protects clients' interests. Social workers should avoid potentially harmful dual relationship with clients. When providing services to individuals related to each other, social workers should carefully clarify the nature of their role with each party and make every effort to avoid conflicts of interests.

Physical contact

Social workers should avoid physical contact with clients who might be psychologically harmed by the contact.

Derogatory langauge

Social workers should avoid the use of derogatory and/or disrespectful language when speaking with and talking about clients, or in written communication.

Culture competence and social diversity

Social workers should be knowledgeable about culture (including its impact on human behavior), the cultures of clients with whom they work, and the nature of diversity and oppression. Social workers should make sure that they have the necessary training to provide culturally sensitive services.

Billing

Social workers should be sure that the specific services provided and the individual who provide the services are accurately reflected in billing.

Client records

Social workers should be sure that their client records are accurate, reflect services provided, contain sufficient information, are maintained in a timely manner, include only information pertinent to services provided to the client, and protect, as far as possible and appropriate, the privacy of clients. Client records should be stored, post-termination, the number of year specified by state law or relevant contracts.

Misrepresentation

Social workers should carefully distinguish between statement made and action taken as provide individuals versus those made as representative of the profession, a professional social work organization, or the social worker's employing agency. When representing a professional social work organization, social workers should accurately communicate the official and authorized positions of the organization. Social workers should be careful to accurately represent their professional qualification to clients, agencies and the public, and to correct inaccuracies or misrepresentations of their credentials by others.

Consultations

Social workers should consult with colleagues who have specific expertise, if it benefits the client to do so. When consulting with colleagues, social workers should disclose only information about clients that is pertinent to the consultation.

Interruption of services

Social workers should do all they reasonably can to make sure that their unavailability, relocation, illness, disability, or death does not interfere with continuity of services.

Access to records

Social workers should ensure the clients have reasonable access to their own records. If there is a real potential that exposure to portions or to the whole of the client's record could harm the client, the social worker should either assist the client in understanding his or her file or, if this would not prevent the client from being harmed, withhold the potentially harmful portion of the fie and document in writing the rationale for taking this course of actions.

Privacy and confidentiality

Social workers should inform new clients of their right to confidentiality and of the limits of confidentiality. This includes the legal requirement that suspected child abuse be reported, the inability of social workers to ensure that participants in family and group therapy will observe confidentiality and the legal requirement to warn a potential victim for whom a client intends to harm. (Tarasoff vs. the University of California Board of Regents) Social workers should carefully guard the privacy of clients in every way possible. For example, social workers should avoid talking about clients in public places; avoid referring to clients by name when transmitting client information to a third-party; only for information about the client that is pertinent to the purpose of the services being provided, etc.

Integrity of the Profession

Social workers should maintain and promote high standards of practice, uphold and advance the values, ethics, knowledge and mission of the profession, and increase the integrity of the profession by engaging in appropriate study, research, discussion, and responsible criticism of the profession. They should contribute their time and expertise to promote respect for the social work profession, contribute to the knowledge base of the profession, and act to prevent the practice of social work by unauthorized and unqualified individuals.

Sexual harassment

Social workers should not engage in any behavior with clients, verbal or physical, that is considered sexual harassment; prohibited behaviors include, but are not limited to, making sexual advances, asking for sexual favors, and soliciting sex.

Sexual relationships

Social workers should not engage in sexual activities with subordinates (e.g students, supervisees, trainees) nor should they engage in sexual activities with colleagues if to do so could result in conflict of interest.

Sexual Harassment

Social workers should not engage in sexual harassment of colleagues or subordinates.

Sexual relationships

Social workers should not engage in sexual relationships with current clients, with former clients, or with individuals with whom the client has a close personal relationship. Social workers should not provide services to individuals with whom they have had a previous sexual relationship.

Solicitations

Social workers should not engage in uninvited solicitation of potential clients who are vulnerable to undue influence, manipulation, or coercion, nor should they engage in solicitation of testimonial endorsement form current clients or from other vulnerable to undue influence.

Impairment

Social workers should not permit their personal problems to interfere with their professional judgement and performance, nor should personal problem be allowed to jeopardize the best interests of the client. Social workers should seek help for themselves as soon as they become aware of their personal problems are interfering with their professional judgement and performance.

Discrimination

Social workers should not practice, condone, facilitate, or collaborate with any form of discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, political belief, religion, immigration status, or mental of physical disability.

Dishonesty, fraud, deception

Social workers should not take any part of dishonesty, fraud, or deception.

Competence

Social workers should only accept responsibility for employment on the basis of current competence or the intention to gain the necessary competence. Social workers should stay up to date in the field by periodically reviewing the professional literature and by taking advantage of continuing education opportunities relevant to social work practice and ethics. The practice of social workers should be based on recognized knowledge relevant to social work practice and ethics.

Competence

Social workers should only provide services that they are able to provide by virtue of their training and professional experience. Social workers should refrain from using new treatment approaches until they have been appropriately trained and supervised by experts in those interventions. Social workers should be particularly careful when considering the use of practice that are not based on recognized standards of social work. Social workers should not use techniques that are outside of their scope of practice.

Acknowledging credit

Social workers should only take responsibility and credit for work they themselves have performed or to which they have contributed, and they should acknowledge the work and contribution of others.

Evaluation and Research

Social workers should participate in research that involves monitoring and evaluating policies, program implementation and practice interventions, and keep current with the full use of the research of others. They should educate themselves, their students, and their colleagues about responsible research practices, including: - consulting with the appropriate institutional review board(s); - obtaining voluntary and written informed consent from participants or form an appropriate proxy; - informing participants of their right to withdraw from evaluation or research without penalty; - making sure that participants have access to supportive services; - protecting participants from unnecessary physical or mental distress, harm, danger, or deprivation; - using data only for professional purposes; - working to ensure the anonymity and confidentiality of participants and informing participants of how their privacy will be protected; - reporting findings accurately and correcting any errors later discovered in published data; and - being alert to and avoiding conflicts of interests and dual relationships with research participants.

Social and political actions

Social workers should participate in social and political activity with the goal of ensuring equal access to the resources of society needed to meet basic human needs and to enable individuals to develop fully. Social workers should promote conditions and policies that promote respect for cultural and social diversity everywhere and to safeguard the rights of all people. Social workers have a responsibility to work to prevent and eliminate any form of domination, exploitation of, and discrimination against any individual or group on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, political belief, religion, immigration status, or mental or physical disability.

Self-determination

Social workers should support their clients' right to self-determination; an exception to this is if the social worker believes that client is in imminent danger to harm to him or herself or to others.

Informed consent

Social workers should take appropriate measures to ensure that client (or the person legally responsible for the client) understand fully the following: purpose of the services; risks associated with services to be rendered; limits on services imposed by third-party payer costs; service alternatives; and clients' right or discontinue services. Consent should be obtained in writing from the client before video or audio taping clients or sharing information about the client with a third party.

Performance evaluation

Social workers who are called upon to evaluate the performance of others should do so in a fair and respectful manner, based on clearly defined criteria.

Clients who lack decision-making capacity

Social workers who are providing services to clients who do not have the capacity to make informed decisions have a responsibility to carefully protect the interests and rights of these clients.

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Social workers who serve on interdisciplinary teams should use their social work orientation to assist the team in making decisions that will most likely further the well-being of the client. If a team makes a decision in opposition to the ethical standards of the social work profession, the social worker should strive to resolve the problem through appropriate means.

Supervision and consultation

Social workers who supervise or provide consultation services should have the requisite skills to do so and should only provide supervision and consultation within the area of competence. They are responsible to stay up to date in areas in which they provide supervision or consultation. Social workers who provide these services should set "clear", appropriate, and culturally sensitive boundaries, avoid dual relationship that has the potential to harm or result in the exploitation of supersisees and evaluate the performance of supervisees in a fair and respectful manner.

Incompetence of colleagues

Social workers' responsibility to colleagues who are functioning outside of their area of competence is the same as their responsibility to colleagues who ability to provide services is impaired by personal problems.

Commitment to clients:

The primary responsibility of a social worker is to promote the well-being of his or her clients; on occasion, the interests of society or the demands of the law may take precedence (e.g social workers are required by law in all states to report suspected child abuse).

Social workers' ethical responsibilities to clients

The primary responsibility of social workers is to promote the well-being of their clients.

Private conduct

The private conduct of social workers should not interfere with their ability to fulfill professional responsibilities.

Continuing Education and staff development

When responsible for staff, social worker administrators and supervisor should take reasonable steps to provide or arrange for continuing education and staff development. The focus on continuing education and staff development should be current knowledge and emerging issues relevant to social work practice and ethics.

Non-judgmental attitude of social worker:

When seeking help, client do not want to be judged for the situation in which they find themselves. The social worker is not in a position to evaluate the guilt or innocence of the client. The social worker should also avoid judging how much responsibility the client had in creating his or her present problems.

Insufficient knowledge of patterns of human behaviors, insufficient cultural awareness, and confusion between acceptance and approval are

also barriers to acceptance. Continuing education and supervision are activities that the social worker should utilize to address these areas of need. Loss of respect for the client or over identification with the client can also be obstacles to acceptance.

Since each client is different, the help he or she needs is

also in some ways different.

Case work is client-focused.

and each client is an individual, each problem a specific one.

Core values

at the foundation of the mission of social work are the profession's core values.

Values

define a belief system

Ethics

define a standard conduct based on the belief sytem.

Social workers and caseworkers must also be aware of their

own biases and prejudices and react in a culturally-sensitive manner.

Understanding

refers to the necessity of the social worker to understand the meaning of the client's feelings. The social worker needs to have a thorough knowledge of human behavior in order to be able to understand and help this particular client with his or her unique and individual qualities. When the social worker thoroughly understands the client's feelings, eh or she can respond to the client with an appropriate emotional response.

Interacting with the client on a professional emotional level means that the social worker is

sensitive to the feelings of the client, understands what the feelings mean to the client, and responds to the client's feelings in a purposeful appropriate way.

A beneficial purpose of expressing feelings is to

strengthen the casework relationship, allowing the client to disclose intimate, personal, and highly emotional information.

Acceptance of a client means

that the social worker can respectfully treat the client as he or she actually is, with limitation, strengths, potentialities, attitudes, feelings, and behaviors. Accepting the client as he or she is does not mean that the social worker concurs with or approves of behavior of the client that is illegal or deviates from acceptable social norms.

The non-judgmental attitude does not mean

that the social worker should be indifferent to social, legal, and moral standards. If, however, a social worker finds that he or she has insurmountable issues working with certain kinds of clients (e.g child molesters), he or she should seek supervision and, if necessary, request that the case be transferred to another social worker.

Social workers arrive at a diagnosis and formulate treatment goals based on

the circumstances of each client's situation.

There is much empirical evidence identifying the therapeutic relationship as

the most important factor in successful therapy.

If the negative feelings of the client are the real problem,

the social worker is able to identify this and then incorporate this into the treatment plan.

When the social worker recognizes that each client is unique

the social worker is able to provide treatment that is more tailored to the client.

One of the basic obstacles to acceptance stems from

the social worker's lack of self-awareness. The social worker's own biases and prejudices, if not recognized and dealt with, can severely interfere with acceptance of clients.

Clients are usually in distress and can be feeling especially vulnerable when

they enter into the client-social worker relationship. If the social worker listens with respect to the client as he or she tell his or her story, the client feels understood and accepted as an individual.

The purpose of the therapeutic relationship is

to engage the client in the process of effectively dealing with his or her psychosocial needs and problems. The therapeutic relationship has been called the "soul" of case work, while the process of study, assessment, and intervention has been called the body.

The purpose of acceptance in casework is

to help the client deal with his or her problem in a therapeutic manner.

In order to help a client, the social worker must

understand the causes of the client's problems.

Social workers continually struggle with values and standards when

working with clients whose beliefs, attitudes and behaviors differ from those of the social worker, and society.