Summary: Ethical Decision Making In Counseling

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Ethical Decision-Making in Counseling
Step 5: Consider Consequences and Determine Course of Action Florida statues 39.201.b. states, “Any person who knows, or who has reasonable cause to suspect, that a child is abused by an adult other than a parent, legal custodian, caregiver, or other person responsible for the child’s welfare, as defined in this chapter, shall report such knowledge or suspicion to the department in the manner prescribed in subsection (2)” (“Florida Department”, 2014, para. 2). Statues 39.307.4 also states, “The department shall operate and maintain a central abuse hotline to receive all reports made pursuant to this section in writing, via fax, via web-based reporting, via web-based chat, or through a single statewide …show more content…

The other possible course of action discussed in the previous section would need to be dismissed. Not only would the counselor violate or professional duties to put her client’s welfare first, the counselor would also be violating her duties as a counselor to alert the proper authorities of the matter. If the counselor were to try to initiate a meeting with the father, this could in turn cause the client to lose trust in the counselor. Another negative outcome is that the step-mother or father’s presence could intimidate the client into retracting her prior statements. It is never in the best interest of a minor to be put back into the same proximity of the person they are accusing of harm. Another option mentioned above was to contact CPS to evaluate the client’s home for any signs or indications of abuse. By following this procedure, the counselor would again be violating her legal duty to report the abuse to the indicated …show more content…

The first is justice, which determines if the course of action is fair to all who are involved. In Leanne’s case justice is being served for her as the person who sexually abused her in the past is being removed from her home; she will no longer be in harm’s way when it comes to her father. Leanne’s father will also have justice, although not in the way he may have wanted, but will serve again to the best interest of the client. Second he mentions publicity, which examines if the counselor’s decision would impact them in a positive or negative light if the case were published. In this case, the counselor would be confident in her decision because she followed protocol and did what was in the best interest of her client. Third, Stadler suggest the test of universality in which the counselor would examine if they would take the same course of action with a different client who found themselves in the same situation. In any case where abuse is involved the course of action should always be the same; report the abuser and protect the

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