Macro Level Case Study
You are a Social Worker employed for a Christian faith-based nonprofit that provounseling, support, and adoption services for unplanned pregnancies. You have been in your position as a Birth Parent Caseworker for 6 months. This is your first job following graduation and you love providing support and advice to the women and couples who come into the agency looking for help. The agency you work for is small with only four employees total in the agency. These other employees include:
Denise Lashley, Executive Director and Original Founder
Charity Burgess, Office Manager
Maria Ramirez, Adoption Program Director
Maria is your direct supervisor and provides services and support to Spanish-speaking families. You carry a caseload of 15 clients, which is difficult to manage. Your agency serves women across the entire state and you have several clients who reside in Flagstaff, Tucson, and Sedona.You have repeatedly shared with Maria in supervision your concerns that your caseload is too high. Maria hears your concerns stating that she carries a caseload of more than 20 clients, and she recognizes that you both travel extensively. Maria has shared your concerns with Denise. Despite expressing these concerns to Denise and stating repeatedly that additional staff need to be hired, Denise is resistant to the idea that more staff are needed. She insists on telling the board members at quarterly board meetings that the agency is thriving and doing well. She does not tell the board that staff feel overworked or that increasing number of clients means that employees, including herself, are carrying high caseloads. The board relies on the Executive Director exclusively to provide information about how the agency is functioning. The board does not seek out insight or information from any other employees. Denise is controlling and cares very much about how she appears to others in the community. She avoids conflict and does not want to have to go through "the hassle" of hiring new staff. She established the agency 15 years ago. Maria is frustrated by the lack of support from Denise and is thinking about quitting her job. You are uneasy about what is occurring, are equally frustrated with the agency support, and are thinking about what your plan of action should be.
Using the ethical dilemma scenario, discuss how supervision and consultation would guide and impact your decision making. Discuss how you would navigate direction from your supervisor if it conflicted with your personal ethics. ?Refer to Social Work Disposition #11: Standard: Social Workers' Ethical Responsibilities to the Social Work Profession when responding to this prompt.
Please provide reference