The case puts forward a dilemma of whether the human service practitioner should conceal that Tanya had brief contact with the father of her children even though he had legal problems. On the one hand, the practitioner needs to act to the best benefit of the client, while, on the other hand, she needs to comply with the ethical standards and policies of the organization she works for. In Tanya’s case, the advanced human service practitioner acted unethical, as she failed to acknowledge the limits of confidentiality to the client. According to Standard 3 of the ethical standards provided by the National Organization of Human Services (NOHS, 2015), “human service professionals inform clients of the limits of confidentiality prior to the onset of the helping relationship” (para. 7). Thus, the practitioner needed to have informed the client that she would be forced to tell the commission about the client’s contact with the father of her children, and such dialogue with vague phrases would not be needed.
When working with the service user, it is crucial to consider several aspects of culture. In particular, according to Shepherd et al. (2019), the service provider should be aware of the possible biases associated with the client’s view of the family and individuals, success and growth, happiness and adaptability, spirituality, and social class. I believe that the practitioner was not acting in accordance with cultural humility, as she did try to learn how important it was for the service user to communicate with the father of her children. Advanced human service practitioners should have acknowledged that the client’s communication with the father of her children may negatively affect the chances of getting into the transitional housing program. Thus, as the employee’s supervisor, I would recommend assessing the culture of the client and engage in co-learning with the clients about their culture.
References
National Organization of Human Services. (2015). Ethical standards for human services professionals. Web.
Shepherd, S. M., Willis-Esqueda, C., Newton, D., Sivasubramaniam, D., & Paradies, Y. (2019). The challenge of cultural competence in the workplace: Perspectives of healthcare providers. BMC health services research, 19(1), 1-11.