Whether your experience is similar to the story to the right or not, we all face tough dilemmas in our personal and professional lives. We can help you think through these difficult decisions and come to moral resolutions. |
What do you do when the needs of a child contradict each other?
An insurance claims adjuster faces the choice between staying silent or taking action.
A father of two must decide where to spend his time: home or work.
Returning to his desk one afternoon, Richard reviews his options with some anxiety. As a caseworker in a community agency providing counseling and temporary shelter for abused and troubled youth, he has just visited the state human services office—without much success. His goal had been to persuade the state to accept custody for Danny, a 15-year-old boy whose parents were, in Richard's eyes, seriously abusive. The law on this point is, he feels, perfectly clear: Danny has the right to state guardianship if an investigation shows he is clearly in imminent danger.
But Janice, the state worker on duty that afternoon, feels otherwise. Reviewing the request, Janice tells Richard that the state would not accept custody of Danny. As far as she could determine, Danny is not really in imminent danger of physical injury. And, at 15, he is better able to take care of himself than many others who are referred to her every day.
Richard knows it is a difficult decision for Janice. After all, she and he are in the business of social work because they care about children like Danny. It is not her fault that, given recent budget cutbacks, priorities have tightened, excluding children who once would have qualified for state support. Still, he feels strongly that the potential danger for Danny is real and immediate. His responsibility, he knows, is to promote Danny's welfare.
Should he, then, try to pressure the department into accepting custody by appealing Janice's decision to her unit supervisor? If he appeals the decision, there is some chance that it would be overturned and that Danny would win state support. But Richard works cooperatively with Janice and her co-workers on a regular basis. Would he jeopardize future relations—and maybe lose his effectiveness in cases far more serious than Danny's—if he challenges her decision?Read more dilemmas: Children and Family Dilemmas
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