by Allan Barsky, JD, MSW, PhD
As social employees, we take delight in our mandate to advertise social justice and advance the dignity and price of all individuals. Our Code of Ethics explains our duties to advocate for these ideas, notably to handle social injustices corresponding to racism, xenophobia, ableism, non secular bigotry, heterosexism, and different types of discrimination (NASW, 2021, ss. 6.01 and 6.04). Though advocacy for the well-being of people, households, teams, communities, and society is an integral part of social work apply, we could face restrictions from our employers by way of whether or not, when, and the way we could advocate. The aim of this text is to supply steerage about easy methods to steadiness our moral obligations to advocate with our tasks to our apply settings, as outlined in Half 3 of the NASW (2021) Code of Ethics.
Distinguishing Work-Based mostly and Private Advocacy
Though the NASW Code of Ethics doesn’t reference the phrases work-based advocacy and private advocacy, it’s essential to tell apart them. Work-based advocacy refers back to the advocacy that we carry out as a part of our work tasks. Generally, work-based advocacy is advocacy that’s performed throughout our common work hours. It’s approved by our employer, which can embody authorization from supervisors, company insurance policies, and legal guidelines governing our apply. In distinction, private advocacy is advocacy performed throughout our private time. Sometimes, private advocacy doesn’t require permission from our apply settings or supervisors.[1] Beneath the First Modification of the U.S. Constitution, we not solely have freedom of speech, but in addition freedom of affiliation, permitting us to affix with unions, civil liberties organizations, legislation reform teams, political events, or others to advocate for social change.
When advocating as a part of our work tasks, our apply settings could decide which varieties of causes we could assist. Our constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of affiliation are considerably restricted when performing inside the scope of our employment. By agreeing to work for a social company or different employer, we comply with abide by their guidelines and insurance policies. They’re paying us to carry out specific duties or roles. Simply as employers could prohibit us from enjoying video games or going purchasing throughout required work hours, they could additionally restrict our advocacy efforts. If our apply settings prohibit us from advocating for a selected trigger or particularly method, one possibility may be to advocate on our private time. Whereas it could be inappropriate, as an illustration, for social employees to make use of their work time and company sources to assist a selected political celebration, social employees could usually take part in partisan political campaigns on their very own time.[2]
Moral conflicts could come up after we consider {that a} specific type of advocacy is important to our work however our supervisors or company insurance policies advise towards taking part in such advocacy. Normal 3.09(a) of the NASW Code of Ethics says that, basically, we should always adhere to commitments made to our employers. These commitments are acknowledged in our work contracts and company insurance policies. Once we expertise conflicts between our skilled moral duties and company tasks, Normal 3.09(c) suggests we should always inform our employers of our moral obligations. Normal 3.09(d) recommends taking “cheap steps to make sure that [our] using organizations’ practices are in keeping with the NASW Code of Ethics.” Therefore, if a battle arises between our moral obligations and our commitments to our employer, we should always have interaction in frank communications, figuring out our issues and in search of a mutually passable resolution. If we can not attain settlement, then we’re confronted with a difficult dilemma. We could profit from consulting supervisors, attorneys, or others to find out one of the simplest ways ahead.
A Case Instance
Think about a state of affairs through which our skilled obligation to advocate for social justice clashes with our employer’s directives. Think about you’re a college social employee. You might be involved a couple of not too long ago handed state legislation that requires you and different college personnel to contact a scholar’s dad and mom (or guardians) in case you uncover that the scholar is LGBTQ+. You consider that college students ought to have a proper to privateness and that they shouldn’t be outed to their dad and mom if they don’t seem to be able to disclose their sexuality or gender identification. The scholars could also be involved that they are going to expertise bullying, rejection, or harassment. Such destructive parental reactions could result in psychological well being points, corresponding to despair, suicide, and unlawful drug use (Estep & Mirman, 2023). The legislation relies on an argument that oldsters have a proper to know details about their kids (Florida House Bill 1557, 2022). You strategy your supervisor to debate utilizing work time and sources to advocate for repeal of this legislation. Nevertheless, your supervisor instructs you to chorus from such advocacy, citing two main causes:
- Your main accountability within the company is to supply direct companies to purchasers in want, to not advocate for legislation reform.
- Advocating towards the legislation may alienate members of the present authorities and jeopardize the company’s state funding and assist.
Generally, company directors and attorneys are typically risk-averse, preferring to keep away from actions that might probably expose the company or its workers to lawsuits, shopper complaints, retaliation, or different dangers. Nevertheless, as social employees who advocate for social justice, we’re typically confronted with conditions through which taking dangers is critical. That is notably true when the stakes are excessive, and failing to behave may implicitly condone insurance policies or practices which are unjust. In such situations, our dedication to upholding justice could compel us to make morally brave selections, even within the face of potential dangers (Strom, n.d.).
Choices
When confronting difficult moral points, you will need to discover varied choices (Barsky, 2023). The query within the case instance just isn’t merely, “Ought to we advocate or not advocate?” however fairly, on condition that the present legislation is abridging college students’ privateness rights and placing LGBTQ+ kids in danger, what ought to we do? Be aware that the supervisor’s main issues weren’t associated to the trigger you needed to pursue. The supervisor acknowledges the legislation’s dangerous results. So, fairly than specializing in whether or not it is a good trigger to pursue, the query may very well be phrased, “What are our choices for advocacy to repeal or amend this legislation?”
One possibility may very well be so that you can take part in advocacy by yourself time and along with your private sources. You might additionally collaborate with civil rights organizations, LGBTQ+ advocacy teams, {and professional} associations that symbolize lecturers, college social employees, steerage counselors, and different professionals that serve colleges. Sadly, you wouldn’t have your establishment’s assist. You may additionally have restricted time outdoors your work hours to take part in such advocacy.
Another choice could be to advocate in a way that addresses your supervisor’s issues. By way of your main work dedication, contemplate ways in which you possibly can proceed to meet your duties as a direct service supplier, whereas additionally participating in sure types of advocacy. May you pool the sources of assorted college personnel, sharing advocacy-related duties alongside different work tasks?
The supervisor’s second concern revolves across the potential political repercussions of opposing a legislation endorsed by the present authorities. There are numerous types of advocacy, together with discreet, consensual, and collaborative strategies. Though your supervisor may not assist your participation in staging a scholar walkout or a confrontational public protest on the state capital, your supervisor may be open to a coalition of faculty social employees holding personal conferences with members of the chief department of presidency to coach them in regards to the dangerous results of the legislation. Reasonably than working “towards the system,” you possibly can attempt to work inside the system. The legislation purports to guard father or mother rights, which is a legitimate goal. Nonetheless, it could be useful to think about how parental rights could also be balanced with the rights of scholars, together with their rights to privateness and their rights to entry social employees or different serving to professionals after they have issues associated to their sexual orientation or gender identification. Social employees are effectively positioned to assist have interaction varied stakeholders in constructive discussions and collaborative problem-solving processes (Barsky, 2017).
Conclusions
Whereas advocacy for social justice is integral to social work, there could also be occasions when our employers restrict or forbid it. In such circumstances, it’s important to hearken to and validate their issues (Barsky, 2017). We could then be capable to tackle their issues and spotlight how our proposed advocacy suits not solely with our moral obligations as social employees, but in addition with the mandates, missions, and targets of our using businesses. Company issues could also be associated to useful resource allocation, together with funding and the time commitments of social employees and different company staff. By means of collaborative negotiation, we could attain an settlement to advocate by delineating what sources will probably be wanted, how we are able to procure them, and the way we are able to be certain that the sources will probably be utilized in an economical method.
Though the quick provision of direct companies is a precedence, we additionally acknowledge that coverage impacts apply. Accordingly, it’s usually important to handle coverage points to handle direct apply issues. When advocating on behalf of our businesses, we ought to be open and trustworthy with our supervisors and directors about what we’re advocating for, how we plan to advocate, and the way we are able to mitigate any dangers related to advocacy. We must also concentrate on the bounds of agency-based advocacy and contemplate when it may be extra acceptable to advocate utilizing our private time and sources. Finally, we should navigate the complexities of advocacy inside organizational contexts with integrity, discerning one of the best methods to ethically advance the well-being of the communities and purchasers we serve, whether or not inside the partitions of our businesses or past them.
References
Barsky, A. E. (2023). Important ethics for social work apply. Oxford College Press.
Barsky, A. E. (2017). Battle decision for the serving to professions (3rd ed.). Oxford College Press.
Estep, C., & Mirman, J. H. (2023). Mum or dad reactions to sexual and gender identification disclosure occasions within the deep south. LGBTQ+ Household: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 19(1), 21-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/27703371.2022.2131674
Florida Home Invoice 1557. (2022). Parental rights in schooling. https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/1557
Nationwide Affiliation of Social Employees. (2021). Code of ethics. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English
Strom, Okay. (n.d.). What’s ethical braveness? For Ethical Braveness. https://www.formoralcourage.com
[1] Exceptions could come up, as an illustration, when there’s a battle of curiosity or when there are legal guidelines that particularly prohibit advocacy actions for individuals who work particularly positions (e.g., it might be inappropriate for a navy social employee to protest publicly towards the navy’s stance on a present warfare scenario).
[2] Though we’re usually free to decide on which causes or political events to assist on our personal time, we should always contemplate how our private actions could have an effect on our skilled roles and tasks (NASW, 2021, ss. 4.03 and 4.04). As an illustration, if we joined a racist group in our private capability, our employer and purchasers could not belief us to respect the dignity and price of all individuals in our skilled capability.
Allan Barsky, JD, MSW, PhD, is Professor of Social Work at Florida Atlantic College and writer of Social Work Values and Ethics (Oxford College Press).
The views expressed on this article don’t essentially symbolize the views of any of the organizations to which the writer is affiliated, or the views of The New Social Employee journal or White Hat Communications.
