Integrity in Social Work Practice

Question: Discuss about the Integrity in Social Work Practice. Answer: Introduction The South Australian Department of Child Education and Development, proposes to implement a policy that has been formulated in the United States of America State of Texas, which aims at ensuring that school administrations share sensitive information about students with their parents ("Texas Bill Could Force Schools To Out Queer Students To Their Parents."). The proposal which has been suggested for adoption aims at ensuring that parents are involved more in the development of their children and this policy will mandate teachers to ensure that they get some sensitive information about students and give it out to the parents. Although the policy might be allow parents to better understand their children, there are a number of demerits about the same that have been noted and it is important that they are first considered before it is implemented. The policy will be analyzed by applying the WPR approach which is a set of six questions. There are a number of problems that have been identified in relation to the implementation of the above stated policy. One of the problems that have been indentified is the fact that the policy will infringe on the privacy rights of the students. It is also important to understand that the same policy may have adverse effects schools impact on the students due to the constrained relationships between them and the teachers due to the breach of the privacy. The issue of sexual identity in one of the issues that the society has been grappling with finding it difficult to accept the fact that one can be a member of the LGBT community and it is not a choice. Currently, members of the LGBT community have had difficulties in associating with other members of the society and this problem could be transferred to schools and especially younger adults who their privacy will be infringed if the suggested policy is implemented. What are the presumptions of the problem? It is essential to understand that each and every Australian citizen whether young or old they have a right to privacy. In this case, it is a crime to and even ethically wrong from teachers to share information passed to them privately with other parties (Bacchi, 2009). In this case, if the policy that requires teachers to share sensitive information with a students parents is passed, this right of privacy will have been breached. Teachers as professionals need to ensure that they make use of the information they extract from students to empower them rather than using the same to blackmail them. Teachers are trained to ensure that they are able to win students trust in order to help them in their intellectual development which has a positive impact of their lives. The stakeholders who have formulated this policy and pushing for its adoption aim to punish students for their sexuality which is not a choice. It is important for all stakeholders to understand some of the biological reaso ns as to why people are not able to choose their sexuality before trying to punish them. How has the representation of the problem come about? The reason as to why students opt to have kept their sexuality private is due to the discrimination and negative impact experienced from the society. Before giving out an individuals sensitive information about their sexuality, there are a number of factors that one requires to consider. It has been reported that a number of young people who come out about their sexuality and ends up being a member of the LGBT community is banished from home ("Texas Bill Could Force Schools To Out Queer Students To Their Parents."). This has been one of the leading factors that result into students protecting their sexual identity. Therefore, it means that if the policy is adopted, the government will have to deal with an increased number of homeless children lining in the streets. Most students will also have to stop attending to their studies due discrimination that will arise as a result of the same. Why this is a problem to Social Workers The problem will not only affect students and their families but rather also social workers. One of the commitments of social workers is to ensure that they work to ensure that they achieve social justice to the disadvantaged in the community. Members of the LGBT community are some of the most disadvantaged groups in the society due to their sexuality. The policy which has been proposed for adoption aims to further infringe on the rights of the group by requiring that they should come out and state their sexuality which should be a privacy issue. Social workers will have to deal with an increased number of young people who will have experienced both psychological and physical harm due to the sharing of such sensitive information with their parents (Bacchi, 2009). It is important to understand that the issue of sexuality has not been fully accepted and incorporated in the society and it is a grey area of discussion. Therefore, from a social workers perspective, it is essential that the sharing of such sensitive information should be avoided until the society fully understands that it is not a personal choice but rather biological. Social workers find this to also be a challenge since according to their ethics and code of conduct, everyone should bear an individual and collective responsibility of any problem that should arise as a result of decision they make it. Therefore, this will also burden teachers with having to cope with the responsibility of knowing that some of the negative effects that will be witnessed as a result of the implementation of the policy lie on their shoulders. One of the silences that can be identified on the issue on the issue is the fact that no one tends to represent or understand the challenges that queer students undergo. The society tends to discriminate on them and this is an issue that should be addressed and ensure that they come out when they ready. One of the other ways in which the problem can be addressed differently is ensuring that there are departments in schools that address the issues that the queer community undergoes in order to prepare them for the society and some of the challenges they may face. It is essential to understand that each and everybody have a right of privacy. However, the proposed policy which enables teachers to share sensitive information about students with the parents infringes on the same. It is also vital to understand that there are a number of other negative results which have been documented as a result of young people coming out and stating out their sexuality and there will be an increase of the same. Social workers will also be affected by the policy since their code of practice and ethics ensures that they are able to attend to the interests of all members of the society which is not being supported. References "Texas Bill Could Force Schools To Out Queer Students To Their Parents."The Huffington Post, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/texas-schools-queer-students_us_5834ab29e4b000af95ecff92. Bacchi, C. (2009).Analysing policy. Pearson Higher Education AU.