As you explored in Week 1, ethical dilemmas are referred to as such because they involve conflicting values and are not easy to resolve. Furthermore, ethical standards and codes do not often give prescriptive advice for specific situations. For these situations, it is useful to employ ethical decision-making models. These models are frameworks that provide sequential steps to guide your research, thinking, and actions regarding dilemmas you may face.

Your course text presents one ethical decision-making model in detail, but it mentions several others. In your current or future roles as a human and social services professional, the organization for which you work may have adopted models they wish you to use, or you may be free to choose your own. As you become more familiar with the models available, you may wish to select models that closely align with your professional values and perspectives. Finally, remember that when you make ethical decisions in your professional practice, clients should be included in this process whenever possible.

For this Assignment, you apply the ethical decision-making model in your course text to a specific event or issue relevant to working within a family system.

To Prepare:

• Select a current event or issue related to ethics for human and social services professionals working within a family system. It is not necessary to select an issue for this Assignment that contains cultural elements, although you may if you wish.
• Review the “Ethical Decision Making Model” found in Chapter 3 of your course text Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions. Consider how you would apply this model to the event or issue you selected. If your selected issue does contain cultural elements, you may consider applying the transcultural integrative ethical decision-making model discussed in the article “A Transcultural Integrative Model for Ethical Decision Making in Counseling.”

The Assignment (3–4 pages):

Using the ethical decision-making model, write a 3- to 4-page paper in which you:

• Describe your selected ethical event or issue related to working within a family system. Be concise yet specific about the ethical issues present.
• Explain how you, as a professional, would resolve the dilemma using the steps of the ethical decision-making model. Use the NOHS standards as your relevant code of ethics to clarify the dilemma. For the step regarding consultation, explain what type of professional(s) you would need to contact for consultation (but you do not need to actually obtain a consultation for the purposes of this Assignment).