Confidentiality: The Case Of Sally: Ethical Decision-Making Model

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Recommended: Fundamental principle of professional ethics

By using The Case of Sally for this case study, I will work through the ethical decision making model to decide the best course of action. The Case of Sally can be found in Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions (8th edition), chapter 6 Confidentiality: Ethical and Legal Issues (p. 255). The therapist is having difficulty in determining if she has the ethical and legal responsibility to breach confidentiality. This case involves a 12-year-old girl named Sally, who experienced a brief encounter of sexual fondling by her intoxicated father. The father has no previous history of molesting his daughter. He has agreed to seek substance abuse counseling as a result of his inability to recollect the fondling incident. The family is …show more content…

As the counselor, I am supposed to protect those who have been harmed and those who are currently experiencing harm. While the family insists this sort of thing has never happened, there is no guarantee that it won’t happen again in the future. Not only do I feel it is my moral responsibility to have the child’s best interest, it is also my legal responsibility. If the father were to relapse and molest his daughter while intoxicated again, it would crush me as the counselor knowing that I didn’t do anything to stop the molestation from happening again. It could also have legal and ethical ramifications for me, resulting in the possibility of a malpractice suit and/or have my license to counsel revoked. I would attempt to involve the family in my decision to report the abuse by letting them know it is my legal responsibility to report the incident in the state of Missouri. I would also try to have the family make the report themselves, during our family therapy session. If the family was not willing to make the call to social services themselves, then I would be forced to report the abuse myself. I believe it would be my moral, ethical, and legal obligation to report the sexual abuse of the 12-year-old girl to social …show more content…

“Veracity means truthfulness, which involves the practitioner’s obligation to deal honestly with the clients” (Corey, Corey, and Callanan, 2011). The therapist must make the family aware of her responsibility to protect the minor, as it is her obligation to be honest with the clients. It is unclear if the therapist was truthful with the clients about her obligations to protect minors no matter the circumstance. Based on the trusting relationship already built between the counselor and the family, it seems as though the counselor was practicing with veracity. The family would have most likely not disclosed the sexual abuse of the 12-year-old girl if the therapist had not built a trusting relationship with the family. With that said, the trust will be broken if the therapist reports the sexual abuse to social

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