Social work ethics relate to how one behaves within the profession. They go hand in glove with values, which refer to what one believes as a social worker. There should, however, be value clarification and this should usually take place at the beginning stages of the supervisory relationship. Supervisors are therefore faced with the task of value clarification, as well as assisting supervisees with reducing conflict between professional and personal values. The AASW (2014, p. 3) warns that “social work supervision is an aspect of professional practice and, as such, all social workers are required to meet their ethical responsibilities”, when engaging in supervisory processes. Consequently, “supervisors assume a wide range of responsibilities that require in-depth knowledge of the standards of the profession” (Bernard & Goodyear, 2004, p. 8).
In South Africa, for instance, the ethical responsibilities of social workers are envisaged in the Code of Ethics for Social Workers (SACSSP, 2007), whilst those for supervisors and supervisees are outlined in the Supervision Framework for the Social Work Profession in South Africa (DSD & SACSSP, 2012). Social workers should, therefore, familiarize themselves with these guidelines. They should know issues such as who can be a social work supervisor, ratio of supervisor/supervisee, and the theoretical model underpinning
22 supervision. They should also educate their employers (if the employer does not have a social work background) that only social workers may act as social workers’ supervisors and, if there are no qualified persons to become supervisors within the organization, supervision services may be outsourced (DSD & SACSSP, 2012).
Ethical standards in supervision, which are discussed in detail below, include issues relating to confidentiality, respect of persons, professional integrity including honest and competency, social justice, and interdisciplinary collaboration. These ethical guidelines need to be discussed and reviewed by supervisors and their supervisees during the supervision contract, in order to effectively deal with ethical dilemmas. The guidelines are briefly discussed below:
2.5.1 Confidentiality
The SACSSP (2007) emphasizes that confidentiality should be expected in the perspective of the right to privacy which is also enshrined in Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. This right to privacy should, therefore, be respected and upheld at all times by social workers. The breach of clients’ right to privacy may therefore be regarded as unethical which may lead to disciplinary measures being taken against those involved.
Child protection social workers come across a lot of information, some of it sensitive, during their interaction with clients. This information should always be kept confidential. Frontline social workers engage with abused children, those living with HIV, those having different sexual orientations, drug addicts, among others. As such, supervisors should discuss with supervisees about the importance of upholding the principle of confidentiality and the implications of failing to do so. Dilemmas in this regard should also be highlighted so that they would know when and how confidentiality may present difficulties in certain instances. If there is need to share some private information with the client’s significant others, this should also be discussed with them. Measures to ensure that the client receives necessary psychosocial and other support should nonetheless be in place before sharing the information with others (AASW, 2014).
Confidentiality also entails maintaining control over information shared between parties in the supervision contract (supervisor and supervisee). Drawing of a supervision contract is,
23 therefore, vital so that parties involved have an opportunity to refer to the details of the contract.
2.5.2 Respect of persons
The supervision process should always be built on mutual respect between the supervisor and supervisee. Both parties should understand that one can only respect clients if one respects oneself as well as other parties in the supervision contract. This will extend to respect of clients. The SACSSP (2007, p. 6) observes that social workers “respect the rights of individuals to privacy, confidentiality, self-determination and autonomy, and are mindful that legal and other obligations may lead to inconsistency and conflict with the exercise of these rights.” Thus, child protection social workers should not be judgmental of clients on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, religion, cultural practices, language, socio-economic status, ethnicity and race. They should embrace the principle of diversity and thus accept people as they are.
2.5.3 Professional integrity (honesty and competency)
Supervisors and supervisees rendering child protection services need to protect the integrity of the profession by being honest, fair and respectful. Supervisors, for instance, need to be fair when evaluating supervisees’ work and not be driven by hate, jealousy and self- aggrandizement. Simultaneously, supervisors should be honest and respectful to clients and not abuse the powers and trust invested in them. This calls for avoiding dual relationships with subordinates and clients, dishonesty and negligence. Instead, child protection social workers should exhibit a high degree of competency in their line of work and be honest to the client system in areas that they lack competency. They can improve in areas in which they are lacking through further training and professional development. Supervisors should make it their responsibility to ensure that they arrange for continuing training and staff development of their subordinates (AASW, 2014).
2.5.4 Social justice
Supervisors should encourage supervisees to pursue social change while condemning and challenging social injustice, especially against vulnerable members of society such as
24 children and those living in abject poverty (SACSSP, 2007). Child protection social workers deal with abused children, those enduring discrimination, and they, therefore, advocate for the rights of these children whilst shunning corruption. Child protection social workers should ensure that their clients are aware of social services available in their communities through information dissemination and education campaigns.
2.5.5 Interdisciplinary collaboration
Social workers need to understand that their profession does not exist in a vacuum. There are other disciplines such as medicine, education and psychology that are useful in the effective provision and rendering of child protection services. These service providers should be consulted when there is need, for the benefit of the clients. However, collaborators need to do so using the principles of equity, equality, respect and fairness so that they can avoid playing power games (Muchanyerei, 2015; Sibanda, 2014). Supervisees, nevertheless, should first seek advice and counsel of their supervisors before engaging other service providers, in order to deal with this conflict of interest in other instances.