Ethical Dilemmas in Social Work Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Ethical Dilemmas in Social Work - Case Study Example With the advent of HIV and Aids, social workers, particularly in developing countries have had to rearrange themselves to deal with the needs of an ever increasing population of people with Aids. Social workers have attended to needs of oppressed people, people with extreme mental retardations, and those living in abject poverty. Social workers uphold social change and social justice on behalf of individuals, groups, families, and communities. The practice of social work is sensitive to ethnic and cultural diversity as it seeks to strive to end society's vices such as oppression, discrimination, poverty and other forms of social injustices. Their intervention may be in the form of community organization, direct practice, consultation, supervision, advocacy, administration, social and political action, education, policy development and implementation, and research and evaluation (NASW code of ethics, 2008). In trying to enhance the people's capacity to address their own needs, social workers are faced with a variety of ethical dilemmas. Let's consider a situation where a couple has the down-syndrome disease but still want to have a sexual relationship that will lead to marriage. Such a scenario may be of particular interest to the practice of social work as it entails some multiplier effects which beg for serious ethical answers. The serious ethical dilemma ... ical dilemma that any social worker may experience in such a scenario is whether to let the couple go on with their plans to get married and have their own children. As I have already discussed, it is the duty of a social worker to facilitate the capability of people to address their own problems. But such a relationship will definitely lead to more problems for the couple as the children born out of the relationship will very likely have the Down-Syndrome disease as well as other complicated health problems which will negatively impact on their developmental abilities (Should retarded people marry, 2006). This therefore means that the chances of the children leading a normal and fruitful life will be seriously compromised. This explains the relevance of such a dilemma to social work. In social work, ethical decision making involves a process. In such an instance where a couple with Down-Syndrome disease wants to have children, simple answers may not be available to resolve the complex ethical issues that such a decision may entail. That is where the National Association of Social Workers code comes into play. The ethical dilemma here is if it is right to allow the couple to go ahead and reproduce children when in fact they know that these children will be severely handicapped and will be a burden to society. Importance of the ethical dilemma to a social worker. The ethical dilemma is of particular importance since it will directly affect the social worker's area of operation. In such a scenario, it is the role of the social worker to be an educator, mediator, negotiator, and facilitator for the couple to enlighten them and empower them with proper information so that they can make proper conclusions about their state and shelf any plans to bear children (Hick,