There were a couple of similar cases with different ethical
responses that I found difficult to differentiate between in Remley’s quiz this
week. The first was Situation #2, where
an elementary counselor receives a subpoena to appear at a child custody
hearing and advised to answer any factual questions posed to him regarding his
counseling sessions with a student.
According to Remley, “both the ASCA standards and the ACA code clearly
specify that when a counselor is legally obligated to reveal information the
counselor might consider confidential, the counselor should reveal it.” Situation #4 also deals with a counselor who
is involved in a trial. The attorney
asks the counselor to repeat statements made to the counselor by a student in a
confidential counseling session. The counselor
replies to the attorney that he does not believe he should reveal the
information because it was communicated in a confidential counseling session. Remley states that the counselor was
justified in his response, as the ASCA standards and the ACA code require
counselors to request that they not be required to disclose confidential
information if they are ordered to do so by a court. The standards help counselors to avoid
situations in which they simply comply with court orders without attempting to
explain why confidentiality is important and without asking that the order be
withdrawn. Taking these standards into
consideration, I ask: Should the elementary counselor in Situation 2 have
requested not to be required to reveal confidential counseling session
material? Secondly, I struggle with the
fact that the counselor in Situation 2 is being asked to appear at a child
custody meeting, when it seems advisable for counselors to avoid such
situations in which they might be cornered into “favoring” one parent over the
other. What things would the counselor
in Situation 2 be required to reveal under law?
Is there anything that would be off-limits, since the child is a minor
and the parent who subpoenaed the counselor appears to have signed off on
confidentiality? Also, what information
might the counselor in Situation 4 be required to reveal if the judge would not
accept the counselor’s explanation of the importance of keeping counseling
sessions confidential? Are there
distinct differences between Situations 2 and 4 that would warrant different
ethical responses?
Another
ethical dilemma that I struggled to understand was found in the Thompson (2012)
quiz. It was that of the 5th-grade
female student with a special education disability who was prostituted and
became pregnant. It was difficult for
me, first of all, not to vomit when thinking about this situation. It made me angry because it seemed so unjust,
yet I know that situations like this have happened and probably will continue
to happen. Also difficult was
determining how to handle the situation with the student being moved to a
different school and experiencing bullying there. I agree with the counselor’s actions of
reassuring the student and dealing with the bullies, yet I wonder if her time
might have been better served working with the bullies in a group setting,
rather than just on an individual basis.
I think that it would be important to have all the students receiving
the same information about the school’s bullying policy and understanding the
impact of their detrimental behavior. I
could also see the value of doing a needs-assessment of the greater student body
when it comes to issues of respect.
Based on the data, a program that addresses respect might be put into
place. Overall, I just felt like I would
have wanted to do more to support a student who had already been through so
much abuse at a young age.
References
Romley, T.
P. & Huey, W. C. (2002). An
ethics quiz for school counselors. Professional
School Counseling, 6, 3-12.
Thompson, R.A. (2012). Professional School Counseling: Best practices
for working in the schools. New York: Routledge.
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