Assignment task: Ethical Case Study
The purpose of this assignment serves as an opportunity to engage you in critically analyzing the ethical dilemma and creating an appropriate ethical decision-making plan to respond to the ethical situation. For this assignment you will be presented with an ethical case study. In reviewing the case, you will write a 6-8 page APA-formatted paper where you implement the Ethical Decision Making Model offered by Forester-Miller and Davis (1996) (as that is the one that has been endorsed by the American Counseling Association). You will find a review of this and other decision-making models in the textbook, your lecture notes, and in the current counseling literature.
Making decisions are a critical part of being a counselor. With the array of issues, you will be presented with many legal and ethical situations that you will need to come to some resolution about in your profession. Therefore, to aid you in this you will do the following assignment.
The purpose of this assignment serves as an opportunity to engage you in critically analyzing the ethical dilemma and creating an appropriate ethical decision-making plan to respond to the ethical situation.
For this assignment you will be presented with an ethical case study. In reviewing the case, you will write a 6-8-page APA-formatted paper where you implement the Ethical Decision-Making Model offered by Forester-Miller and Davis (1996) (as that is the one that has been endorsed by the American Counseling Association). You will find a review of this and other decision-making models in the textbook, your lecture notes, and in the current counseling literature.
Case Study:
Bill is an elementary school counselor who has been working in his current role for several years. He is well-liked by students and staff and is known for his dedication to the well-being of the children he counsels. One of the children, Johnny, has been seeing Bill regularly to discuss issues at home. Johnny has revealed that his father drinks heavily and seldom works, while his mother works all the time and does her best to care for him and his siblings. Recently, Johnny's mother approached Bill with a request. She is seeking custody of her children and believes that
Bill's testimony would support her case. She asked Bill if he would be willing to testify in court that she is a better parent than Johnny's father. Bill appropriately declined, stating that his role is to counsel children, not to evaluate which parent is better.
Despite Bill's refusal, he received a subpoena to appear in court. His principal, after checking with the school board's prosecuting attorney, informed Bill that he must go to court and answer any factual questions asked. After being sworn in as a witness, Bill was asked to provide information regarding his interactions with Johnny. Subsequently, the mother's attorney asked
Bill to offer his opinion on the mother's parenting skills and whether he believed Johnny would be better off in her custody.