Good Practice | Ethics | Law 

A THORNY ISSUE 

The ethical standards in many areas of social work are still being worked through the legal system. A particularly compelling example of evolving standards concerns social workers’ response to parents’ request to examine their children’s counseling records. At the beginning of the social worker-client relationship, social workers routinely discuss with minor clients and their parents the minors’ right to confidentiality and possible exceptions. Nonetheless, in many cases social workers encounter ethical challenges when parents ask to examine their child’s records because of their curiosity or because of their relevance to legal disputes. 

A good friend of ours Frank, shares a story of a recent encounter he had with a very special social worker: 

I made a new friend at a recent Sunday brunch. Patricia is an Oncology Social Worker who had recently retired after thirty years at the Mayo Clinic. 

Although we have been experiencing a decrease in violent crime across America in recent years, high crime rate urban centers are experiencing an epidemic. 

THE ACA 

Even though the political debate continues, the Affordable Care Act is now the law of the land. Its impact on hospitals and health networks is obvious. Its impact on social work is less evident, however. 

GUN CONTROL 

WILL NOT CURE 

SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS

The horrible random shootings in a Charleston church and a Lafayette movie theater have reignited the debate over gun control and mental illness. 

At Global Vision Technologies we work every day with dedicated case workers who inspire us to look beyond fame and fortune to a deeper commitment. Tina Cawley, the AdoptUS Kids caseworker for the month of May, is one of those caseworkers.