Legal and Ethical Dilemmas in School Counseling: A Case Study Approach, Lecture notes of Physics

Download Legal and Ethical Dilemmas in School Counseling: A Case Study Approach and more Lecture notes Physics in PDF only on Docsity! CASE STUDIES 1 CASE STUDIES Legal and Ethical Issues in Working with Minor in Schools Presented by Dr. Carolyn Stone, University of North Florida The following cases have been developed by referring to: Χ actual situations which have occurred in Florida schools; Χ court cases; Χ legislation; Χ ACA codes. References: Fischer, L.; Schimmel, D.; & Kelly, C. (1999). Teachers and the law. New York, NY: Addison Wesley Longman. Fisher, L. & Sorenson, P. (1996). School Law for counselors, psychologists, and social workers. White Plains, NY: Longman. Jacob-Timm,S.; & Hartshorne,T.S. (1998). Ethics and law for school psychologists . New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Loewenberg, F.M.; & Dolgoff, R. (1996). Ethical decisions for social work practice. Itasca, IL: F.E. Peacock Publishers, Inc. Petrila, J.; & Otto, R.K. (1996). Law & mental health professionals . Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. CASE 1 Directory Information Ms. Sheffield disappeared with her son Richard to escape an abusive husband. Ms. Sheffield enrolled Richard in your school without a word about their problems. You published the honor roll of your fifth graders in the newspaper and Richard’s name was amo ng them. A relative of Mr. Sheffield saw Richard’s name in the paper and contacted Mr. Sheffield. Ms. Sheffield is furious as she feels she must uproot her family and seek a new town in order to hide. She maintains that the school acted improperly by publishing her child’s name without her permission. Did the school act legally when they published Richard’s name in the newspaper? Directory information includes___________. John Smith does not live with his father. Is his father’s information directory information also? CASE 3 Student Records/Case Notes You have been seeing Stephen for individual counseling for three months. You have received a request from Stephen’s mother for copies of all school records. His mother who is incarcerated in another state has also asked for your case notes. Are you legally required to provide her with records? Must you provide her with your case notes? Your cousin coaches Little League baseball. He would like information on a student in your school that he coaches. He is very fond of the young man who seems to be having vision difficulty. The coach asked the boy’s parents about his problem and the parents dismissed it with “he can see, he is just uncoordinated.” Your cousin would like for you to look at the vision screening results in this child’s student record to see if a problem has been noted. Is there an ethical or legal dilemma here? CASE 2 Directory Information CASE 4 Legitimate Educational Interest CASE STUDIES CASE 5 Research You are the counselor of Urban Elementary in Jacksonville, Florida. A UNF professor of counselor education has been working with you to implement a character education program. The UNF professor has asked you to participate in a study to assess the impact of the character education classroom guidance program on the behavior of 12 children. The teachers of these 12 students are being asked to track behavior on a rating chart. The disciplinary records of these students will be used to complete the data. The final report will not identify students by name. Have FERPA laws been followed? CASE 8 Exception for Law Enforcement Units CASE 9 Students and Their Records You are a school counselor, school psychologist, or social worker. Can you honor a student’s request for information from their school record? Peter is a eighteen-year-old college student who lives at home. His parents have requested copies of his records from you, his former high school counselor. Must you seek Peter’s permission before releasing his records to his parents? The army recruiting officer wants Peter’s records. Who must give consent? Peter, his parents, both Peter and his parents? Faye, a sixteen-year-old married student wants to prohibit her parents from accessing her educational records. Can Faye prohibit her parents from obtaining her records? CASE 10 Violating Privacy of Educational Records Mrs. Shubuta complains to you that her child is being humiliated and his privacy rights violated because his teacher has the students exchange papers to grade and the students then call out the grades for recording. Her child has serious learning difficulties and his grades are always very low. She says her lawyer has explained that FERPA rights are violated because his grades are educational records. Is her lawyer right? CASE 11 Falsifying Student Records You are a school counselor. You enjoy the role of accomplishing the impossible to help your high school students get scholarships. Bert, one of your seniors, is a talented rower who is being recruited by the six universities in the country who offer rowing scholarships. These schools all require four years of science to include physics. Bert dropped physics in his junior year so that he could pick up weight lifting to help his rowing. It was unknown to Bert and to you how this decision would plague him down the road. He has the grades, SAT scores, and talent to get into any of these schools but not the physics course and certainly not the money. Efforts to right the situation have failed until you speak directly to one of the coaches recruiting this young man. The coach encourages you to “get physics on the transcript somehow.” Physics would have been an easy for this student. Bert needs this scholarship and a chance at the future. You put physics on the transcript. Bert gets his scholarship. Did the end justify the means? Your state Professional Practices Commission recommends that you not be fired. Can you be fired by your school district anyway? CASE 6 Purging Student Records CASE 7 Child Protection Workers and Records CASE STUDIES elementary academic life was not without struggle but her motivation allowed her to maintain above average grades with an occasional “C”. However, the sixth-grade brought a marked change in grades and attitude for Sarah. At first her teachers and parents attributed the change to “middle -school adjustment” but when Sarah began to make health excuses to miss school, her parents called a student service worker for help. During the parent initiated school counseling sessions, Sarah’s counselor began to learn the truth of her first five months of sixth-grade. Sarah was a victim of sexual harassment. Sarah was unusually well-developed for a 12-year-old and found herself the target of jokes and sexual comments about her physical development. Changing classes was the worst time for Sarah as boys leered, jeered, brushed up against her, and sometimes a hand would grope. Most recently, Sarah found herself trapped against her locker by a group of boys who made lewd remarks to her and wouldn’t let her pass. Their leader who frequently harassed Sarah, was a boy she recognized as having slid his hand up her blouse while she was trying to negotiate a crowded hallway. Sarah shared her situation with her friends who repeatedly advised her to ignore the perpetrators and not to make “a big deal about it.” To complicate matters, Sarah told her counselor that she did not want her revelations repeated to anyone, especially her parents, “They always tell me I am too loud and forward with boys and that my clothes are too tight. If they learn about what these boys have been doing, they will just tell me ‘I told you so’ or ‘you asked for it by dressing like that’.” Perplexed by the unwelcome attention and how to respond to it, Sarah hinted that she may in some way be responsible for bringing the harassment on herself and she wished she could just learn to ignore the attention or develop a sense of humor about it all. Student service workers’ responsibilities. Student service workers are needed to develop and implement intervention strategies and support students who are victims of sexual harassment but difficult, legitimate legal and ethical questions must be considered. Sarah explained to her counselor that her parents have always taken the position that she was “loose” and interpreted all contact with boys as proof that their daughter was “wild and boy crazy” and “bound to end up pregnant.” Sarah said it was impossible for her to involve her parents in her problems with harassment and pleaded with her counselor not to contact them or to tell the administration who might in turn contact her parents. Below are five major issues in the form of questions that Sarah’s school counselor may face. The questions are designed to examine the complexities of protecting students’ confidentiality while adhering to the OCR guidelines of Title IX legislation. • If Sarah reports sexual harassment to her school counselor and requests confidentiality, what is the counselor’s legal and ethical obligation toward Sarah and to potential victims Χ Must Sarah be identified by name in a report of the harassment? Χ What if Sarah continued to insist on confidentiality with the full knowledge that without using her identity the investigation would be severely hindered? Χ What happens now that the boy accused of running his hand up Sarah’s blouse, vehemently denies the accusation and his parents demand full disclosure of the incident to include the name of the accused so that they may answer the charges having all the facts? Χ Is this twelve-year-old able to make decisions surrounding the sexual harassment in isolation of her parents? What is the counselor’s legal and ethical responsibility to Sarah’s parents? CASE 27 Harassment of Gay and Lesbian Students You are a student service worker at a school for the performing arts. Males who major in dance or theater are often labeled gay. You know this to be true because students occasionally complain to you. You have conducted interviews and surveys about school climate and included questions about harassment of gays lesbians and males who choose theater and dance. You discover a fairly widespread problem. What are your obligations in this situation? A fifteen-year-old, openly gay student asked you to help stop the daily harassment he has been enduring from other students. He tells you he receives approximately 25 anti-gay remarks a day and at least twice in the last five months he has been kicked and punched while on school grounds. He tells you the harassment is especially bad in Mrs. Smith’s class and that she has witnesses other students calling him faggot but has never reacted in any way. He also tells you he is willing to give the names of the students who have verbally and physically attacked him. What are your obligations in this situation? CASE STUDIES CASE 28 False Sexual Abuse CASE 29 Known Sexual Abuse You coach tennis in the high school where you are a counselor. You have heard rumors that the volleyball coach is having an affair with one of her students. After an unscheduled tennis practice with two of your students you enter the coaches’ office and hear the frantic rustling of clothes and hushed whispers. After five minutes this coach and student emerge from behind closed doors and she mumbles something about looking for equipment and they hurry out. You are certain that your unscheduled appearance in the coaches office has interrupted a sexual encounter. You confront this coach who does not deny the allegation. Now what do you do? You reported a case of child abuse brought to your attention by a teacher. The teacher noticed a horrible slash mark across the back of a child’s neck and upon inspection the teacher saw that it extended way down the child’s back. The mark closely resembled a belt mark. You report the incident to the Child Abuse Registry. The subsequent investigation by Protective Child Services revealed a fall from a piece of playground equipment witnessed by the child’s soccer coach and team members. The parents deducted that the report came from the school and specifically from you. The parents are livid and are threatening to sue you. Can you be sued? You have reported a case of child abuse brought to your attention by a teacher. According to your school board policy, you create a record of this report? Does this record become part of the student’s record? Do parents have access to this information? Must the name of the reporting parties be on this record? CASE 32 Child Abuse from the Past You are a high school counselor. One of your students confides in you that five years ago she was a victim of sexual abuse by her mother’s boyfriend. Four years ago the perpetrator left the home and moved to another state. She tells you that she never told anyone not even her mother. She begs you not to tell. What are your obligations? CASE 33 Dual Relationships You are seeing Erin, an eleven- year-old, in a (private counseling setting, agency, school). This child’s mother (or father for male counselors) died one year ago and you have been seeing this child for this issue. Her loss is affecting her academic achievement. Erin’s grades plummeted following the death of her mother and she lost her enthusiasm for playing soccer. You have a very good relationship with this child and you are making progress. The last conversation you had with her father (mother for males) turned flirtatious and you accepted a date. Now you are worried you are engaged in an ethical dilemma by accepting this date. Are you involved in an ethical dilemma? CASE 34 Group Work You are a mental health professional in a middle school sett ing. You are working with a young woman who reveals she is a victim of incest that ended five years ago. You are already working with another young woman who is dealing with the same issue. After several months you decide it would be in the best interest of these two girls to bring them together. You also include 2 other young women who are incest victims, have been through years of counseling and are progressing well. You bring these four students together for weekly group counseling. You spend a great deal of time on the issue of confidentiality at the first meeting. You are comfortable that the students all understand the imperative to keep all revelations confidential. Is there an ethical dilemma here? CASE 30 Liability in Child Abuse Reporting CASE 31 Child Abuse Records CASE STUDIES CASE 35 Outspoken Regarding Employer’s Policies You are a school counselor, school psychologist, social worker, or licensed mental health therapist employed by a (local school district, community agency). You are concerned about a policy which your (school district, agency) has established for the reporting of students who express suicidal ideation. You think the policy is an invasion of the confidentiality of your clients and eliminates counselor judgment. You write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper. Is there a legal dilemma here? Ethical issue? Instead of writing a letter to the editor you just ignore the policy. Is there a legal dilemma here? Ethical issue? CASE 36 Personal Responsibility You are a school counselor, school psychologist, social worker, or licensed mental health therapist employed by a (local school district, community agency). You are a very reliable employee and have a solid reputation as an effective mental health professional. Your live-in boyfriend parties hearty on weekends and along with a group of friends, you usually end up consuming large quantities of alcohol. Several times the police have come when the neighbors have complained about the cars and the loud music. Lately, the parties have been getting longer and wilder. Does your behavior pose an ethical question? CASE 37 Competence to Help Currently money for juvenile justice programs is plentiful and the agency you work for has been going after several grants to help juvenile offenders. However, the treatment programs they say they will be offering are currently nonexistent. You are the only therapist on staff that works with minors and you have done very little work with minors who are juvenile offenders. You do not have the expertise to offer the specific treatment programs the agency has been promising in their grant applications. Administration tells you not to worry that they will send you for training or hire someone to offer the specific treatment. Is there an ethical violation here? CASE 38 Grooming and Constitutional Rights You are a high school counselor and your principal requires that all the student service workers help out at graduation. Your school has a tradition of a very formal, respectful, solemn graduation ceremony. A very strict dress and grooming code for graduation is enforced. Personally, you think the ceremony is stifled and pleases the adults mo re than the students but you remain silent and cooperative as it is a very beautiful ceremony. One of your students shows up for graduation with purple hair and the principal decides she cannot participate in the graduation ceremony. You tell the principal that you feel this student’s constitutional rights are being violated. Have you given the principal correct information? CASE 39 Defamation by Counselor? You are an agency mental health professional. At the agency Christmas party, a group of colleagues are engaged in a heated debate about teenage pregnancy. You reveal that one of your clients, Randall, has impregnated two girls, refused to accept responsibility, and seems quite proud of his “accomplish”. Your comments reach Randall. He and his mo ther seek legal counsel about whether or not you have committed slander. Have you? CASE 40 Defamation by School Officials? J.D. was not promoted to the ninth grade because he did “nothing” according to his teacher in eighth grade. His parents say he should be promoted because his failure to do work was the result of his handicap (he has been diagnosed as mildly ADHD). A joint conference is held with the parents, principal; teacher, and you, a student service worker in attendance. During the course of the conference you and explain to the parents of J.D. that he is “lazy and interested only in his social life”. J.D.’s parents bring suit against you for defamation. How will the court rule?