Ethical Issues in School Counseling
Elementary and Middle Level Counselors' Courtroom Hearing Experiences The author recognizes the various roles and duties school counselors and administrators face. Oftentimes, these tasks entail heavy legal and ethical consequences. There is an increasing list of barriers that hinder children to learn fully, and these are poor health and malnutrition, psychological stress, family problems, use of drug and alcohol, depression, suicide, and even pregnancy (Davis, 2002). These social problems may necessitate the school counselor or administrator to participate in legal matters. This study attempted to measure the prevalence of court interaction and the types of cases they might need to encounter. Surveys were sent out to 1,000 randomly selected school counselors all over America. Items in the survey inquired about the types of court cases which required the counselor's attendance. The study revealed that 53% of these counselors have testified in court. Most frequently, the hearing was related to child custody cases. The next most common reason for court appearances were sexual abuse and child abuse. Other less common reasons are drug-related cases, homicide, and divorce.
School counselors must learn to act in times of crisis, whether they are man-made or naturally occurring disasters. This study presents the ambiguity in situations that are considered imminent and dangerous. Student risk-taking behaviors: when do school counselors break confidentiality? (Moyer and Sullivan, 2008, 11(4): 236-245. On the other hand, school counselors who neglect to tell on students' high-risk behaviors may as well cause students to lose on the help they need. These entail counselors to know state laws regarding abuse; to work closely with children; working with teachers by offering inservice programs that may help identify child abuse; to encourage less obvious cases of abuse, and; counselors should also actively participate in organizations that deal with child abuse. The primary school counselor in focus was Caucasian women in her fifth year as a counselor, but had her first encounter with a hostage situation. The role of the counselor as a protector overrides client confidentiality. Counselors must have the capability to execute crisis interventions. The author enlists five recommendations to guide schools when addressing all forms of child abuse. This was also correlated with the available literature that discussed how a crisis must be dealt with properly. There is no strict rule that dictates which situations are considered dangerous and reportable, and school counselors rely heavily on their own judgment. Therefore, findings may not be generalizable. These were building relationships; active intervention; keeping a safe school condition; escalation prevention; commuting with professionals to help resolve the situations, and communicating with the perpetrator.
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