How Do We Ethically Balance Client and Job Demands?

Whether you work with children and families in a school setting, child welfare system, juvenile justice or a social service setting, you have likely asked yourself this question many times. The mandate of agencies and institutions that serve children and families are often stated in clear and idealistic terms, so schools aim to provide the "least restrictive setting" to every child who is not able to succeed in a 'regular' classroom designed for children of a certain age. The child welfare mandate is to "strengthen families" so children can be protected from harm. However, individuals and families are complex and often don't 'fit' the parameters set out by the agencies. Large systems, in turn, have their own structure and demands that restrict flexibility in meeting their mandate.

As individual professionals within large systems, your roles bring you face to face with individuals and families looking to you for help. How do you balance the conflicting demands of individuals and systems? What framework do you use to determine what your client needs? Is it okay for someone to "slip through the cracks" because they did not clearly meet criteria or 'fit' neatly into categories provided by the system?

What if you are an independent mental health professional interfacing with public agencies to serve your clients? How do you advocate for your client's needs? What is the scope of your professional responsibility?

In this ethics workshop, we will use didactic and experiential tools to understand:

• The conflicts and agreements between the demands and rules of various systems that serve children and families
• The service mandates of public educational, social service and child welfare agencies
• The ethical guidelines of professional groups and how they interface with larger systems
• A language for communicating across disciplines
• How to advocate for the needs of your clients

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