Code of Ethics in Social Work

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) has established the importance of ethics in guiding professional behavior. Because of its significance, the NASW examines various aspects of the Code of Ethics, which has four primary features.

Features of NASW Code of Ethics

First, the preamble summarizes social work’s general goals or mission and identifies its core values.

Social Work Goals and Core Values

The mission focuses on improving human well-being and addressing the fundamental needs of everyone, especially prioritizing the needs and empowerment of those who are vulnerable, marginalized, and experiencing poverty (NASW, 2008).

The six core values of the mission include:

• Service: Providing help, resources, and benefits so people can achieve their maximum potential.
• Social Justice: In an ideal society, it is essential that every individual enjoys equal rights, opportunities, protection, obligations, and social benefits,” regardless of their backgrounds and membership in diverse groups.
• Dignity and Worth of Individual: Holding high esteem and appreciating individual value.
• Importance of Human Relationships: Recognizing the importance of the ongoing interaction between social workers and those they serve includes their communication, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors toward one another.
• Integrity: Maintaining trustworthiness and sound adherence to moral ideals.
• Competence: Having the necessary skills and abilities to work effectively with clients.

Purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics

The second major feature in the Code, “Purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics,” identifies its six major aims:

• Identifying primary social work values.
• Summarizing broad ethical principles as guidelines for practice.
• Helping determine relevant considerations when addressing an ethical dilemma.
• Providing broad ethical standards to which the public, in general, may hold the profession accountable.
• Socializing new practitioners to the profession’s mission, goals, and ethics.
• Articulating specific standards that the profession may use to judge its members’ conduct.

Ethical Principles

The third feature in the Code, “Ethical Principles,” is based on the six core values described previously and sets forth standards to which all practitioners should strive. For example, the ethical principle relating to the value of social justice states that “social workers challenge social injustice.” Similarly, the principle grounded in integrity emphasizes that social workers (should) behave in a trustworthy manner.

Ethical Standards

The final feature of the Code, the “Ethical Standards,” is by far the most extensive. It encompasses 155 specific principles clustered under six major categories. These include social workers’ ethical responsibilities to clients, colleagues, practice settings, professionals, the social work profession, and the broader society. The list highlights the concepts involved in each, and subsequent sections discuss the major categories.

General Code of Ethics in Social Work

Professional organizations in the field have established a code of ethics to provide guidance for the activities of practitioners. Some recognized professional ethics of social work can be enumerated in the following points:

• Respect for human dignity and personality
• Dignity of each person, be it a pauper or a prince.
• Match the available resources with the felt needs.
• Stimulating change to enhance democratic values.
• Achieving change through cooperation on both intellectual and emotional levels.
• Serving as a change agent from behind the scenes so that the individual, group, or community may emotionally feel that the change was not imposed from outside but was autonomously sought by the individual, group, or community.
• Respect for the profession.

Professional Code of Ethics in Social Work

1. I regarded it as my primary obligation for the welfare of the individual or groups served, which includes action for improving social conditions.
2. I will treat everyone with respect and fairness, regardless of their race, religion, color, sex, age, or national ancestry. In my professional role, I will strive to address and eradicate social discrimination in the provision of services, work assignments, and employment practices.
3. I prioritize my professional responsibilities above my personal interests.
4. I hold myself responsible for the quality and extent of my service.
5. I respect the privacy of the people I serve.
6. I use information gained in professional relationships in a responsible manner.
7. I treat colleagues’ findings, views, and actions with respect and use appropriate channels to express judgment on these matters.
8. I practice social work within the recognized knowledge and competence of the profession.
9. I recognized my professional responsibility to add my ideas and findings to the body of social work knowledge and practice.
10. I acknowledge my role in safeguarding the community from unethical practices by any individual or organization involved in social welfare activities.
11. I stand ready to give appropriate professional service in public emergencies.
12. I distinguish clearly, in public, between my statement and actions as an individual and representative of an organization.
13. I endorse the notion that professional activity demands professional education.
14. I accept responsibility for working toward creating and maintaining conditions within agencies that enable social workers to conduct themselves in keeping with this Code.
15. I contribute my knowledge, skills, and support to the program of human welfare.

Conclusion

The following Code of Ethics outlines essential standards of conduct for professionals in their interactions with clients, colleagues, employing organizations, other practitioners, and the broader community. In abiding by the Code, the social worker views his obligation in a wider context as the situation requires, considers all of the principles, and chooses a course of action consistent with the Code’s spirit and intent.