Research Paper on:
Social Work and Ethical Dilemmas

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
offers guidelines that facilitate the process of balancing professional ethics against individual rights. These guidelines are applied to each case study, which reveals that while the guidelines are extremely helpful,  they do not cover all contingencies. Case study #1 : services for children Carol was a three-year-old, initially described by social services as an "anxious, angry, disorganized child with  a high activity level" (Bloch, 1997, p. 183). In school, Carol demonstrated a limited ability to pay attention and her learning disabilities required a great deal of teacher intervention.  Her mother was described as "fragile," a victim of spouse abuse, she demonstrated only limited parenting skills, and did not appear capable of meeting the needs of her three  young children (Bloch, 1997). The dilemma, in this case, is that Carols mother appeared to be incapable of meeting Carols (or her other childrens needs). The social worker had  to decide whether to continue to improve this situation, or to seek a course of action that would result in the children being removed to foster care. Although this  mother was obviously not meeting the needs of her children, the social worker in charge of this case did not give up on her. Eventually, as a result of extensive  outreach efforts on the part of the social workers, this mother began to trust and, then, to incorporate the parental support and training that the social worker offered (Bloch, 1997).  She became more self-reliant and empowered, gaining confidence in her ability to manage her children. While she learned to set reasonable limits, she also became more empathic to her  childrens needs. Furthermore, this mother learned to understand Carols educational needs and became an active partner in planning to meet these needs (Bloch, 1997). Subsequently, when Carol left this program,