Introduction

Practice in social work and the human services involves assisting a wide variety of people who require help in dealing with problems in their lives or otherwise providing social services to people so that they can live their lives more effectively. Children and their families, young people, people with physical or intellectual disabilities, with mental health needs, problems associated with old age, and issues faced by communities are all part of the broad focus of these services. Those who work in these services face complex and challenging issues that require careful thought and considerable skill in order to provide assistance appropriately. But in societies where people often have different ideas about what is good and what is right how should services be run and in what ways should people be assisted? These crucial questions are illustrated by the following hypothetical examples of practice. (All such examples in this book are hypothetical in that they do not describe any single actual situation – however, they are all drawn from the experience of the author or of practitioners from different parts of the world.)

Julie is qualified as a teacher, Farouk in social work and Alan in youth and community work. They are the core staff of a youth service in a large city, providing a social centre and various forms of help to young people aged between 12 and 25. The neighbourhood where their youth centre is located is relatively poor and includes people whose family backgrounds are from Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, India, Pakistan and Hong Kong. Recently some of the young people have begun to ask for separate sessions for different ethnic groups because they are feeling that their cultural identities are being confronted by the attitudes and actions of other young people. This has now led to a particular situation where a young woman who wears hijab (a head scarf) is being taunted by those from other backgrounds, including some of the other young women. Julie, Farouk and Alan agree that the ethics of their different professions all support the right of this young woman to wear what is culturally appropriate for her, but they find that they are not agreed on whether there should be ethnic-specific sessions – Julie raises the point that if they create such a structure why should there not also be sessions specifically for young women. So although their 2professions’ ethics provide them with the ideas to think about this issue, it forces Julie, Farouk and Alan to recognize that these are not simply rules or instructions that can be applied as a technical solution. In the end they will have to make some difficult choices that relate ethics to questions of culture and difference.

In another part of the city the following situation is occurring.

Imelda is employed by a small independent organization that provides social support services to people with long-term ill-health and disabilities. Her role is to review direct everyday care services and to make changes to plans with service users when necessary. One of the families that Imelda is reviewing arrived in the country from South Asia about 22 years ago. The primary service user is a young woman, Gunawathie, aged 20, who has a degenerative disability and now requires constant care. In conversation with the family it becomes apparent to Imelda that neither Gunawathie nor her family are aware of how quickly she is likely to become more disabled or the likely length of her life. When Imelda checks with the family’s doctor she is told that as the parents ‘clearly’ wanted to have hope for their daughter it was previously decided not to force the disclosure of this information. It is stated that the treating team considered this decision to be supported by the cultural expectations of the family. Imelda is aware that giving this information is widely accepted as the prerogative of the medical profession (and she does not have medical training) so she cannot make such a disclosure, but she feels uneasy that she is being asked to collude with the family and other professionals in withholding the truth of the situation from someone who is now an adult and who she regards as having a right to know the facts about her health.

In both these situations the values and ethics of those who are providing human services are central to the way in which they understand their role, the organizations that they work in and the choices that they face in their practice. But they are also faced with the challenge that not everyone agrees on what is the right thing to do. They have come up against the central question of a plural society: ‘when is different simply different and when is it wrong?’ (Healy, 2007, p. 13). Julie, Farouk, Alan and Imelda all have to resolve this so that they can act and they have to do so as members of professional or occupational groups as well as employees of human service agencies. (This point is discussed further in Chapter 8.)