ABSTRACT
Human relationships are never black and white and each connection is unique to the two people sharing the experience. As noted there are some clear-cut boundary violations that do much damage and relate to the absolute abuse of authority and the power of one person over another. When workers engage in such actions, it is the extreme in oppressive behaviour. However, a vast majority of boundary issues are crossings rather than gross violations. Taking a universal precautions approach to boundaries in the helping professions can avoid problems. A good rule of thumb for those agonizing over ethics and boundary challenges is to think how this is going to look on a contact note on the youth's file. Common discourse tends to speak in terms of helping a youth become 'independent'. It is important for case workers, community workers, colleagues, and supervisors to all discuss how to avoid creating dependency, but independence is not the goal either.
