Assignment 1: Week 6 Blog

Consider the topics covered in this week’s resources and incorporate them into your blog.

BY DAY 3

Post a blog post that includes:

• Any legal considerations during your field education experience that you may have had to address or that you might address
• An explanation of potential challenges in adhering to legal considerations during your field education experience

BY DAY 4

Respond to the blog post of three colleagues in one or more of the following ways:

• Share an insight from having read your colleague’s posting.
• Validate an idea in your colleague’s post with your own experience

COLLEAGUE 1: Shaliah

Any legal considerations during your field education experience that you may have had to address or that you might address.

My field placement is at a drug and alcohol facility. There are possible liability risks that can occur if clients do not sign or be made aware of certain consents and releases prior to program admission and treatment services. One of the most important forms that legally have to be done is a consent to treatment form. This form provides permission for staff to begin to treat the addiction. This is sometimes difficult because if a client comes and needs to detox before intake is completed, they are sometimes not coherent enough to understand what the consent form entails. According to Birkenmaier & Berg-Weger (2018), documentation provides a record of services rendered, is a tool for evaluating the effectiveness of services, and reduces practice risk. Treating someone without a consent would put the organization at risk for a lawsuit if during detox, for example, the individual develops medical issues, such as a heart attack, that needs immediate hospitalization, the organization would have no consent on file or releases signed for this person being admitted to Pyramid. Having a consent to treat and releases to the local hospital and crisis will cover the organization as there is client consent on file for throughout the program.

An explanation of potential challenges in adhering to legal considerations during your field education experience.

A potential challenge in adhering to the policy of retrieving a consent to treatment would be if a client comes in and needs to detox first and they are not conscious during the time they arrive for intake to get the consent to treatment form signed. Depending on the substance used and the condition of the client, sometimes intake is not able to get a consent form signed the day the individual arrives. To me, that is risky, even though there is nursing there to monitor, I believe there should be some form of consent or something that allows detoxification until one gains consciousness, and is stable enough, to be able to consent.

Reference

Birkenmaier, J., & Berg-Weger, M. (2018). The practicum companion for social work: Integrating class and fieldwork (4th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.

COLLEAGUE 2: Mikala

Any legal considerations during your field education experience that you may have had to address or that you might address. An explanation of potential challenges in adhering to legal considerations during your field education experience

 

For my field placement, I am at a mental health agency. We provide in-home and community based services. While I have not yet faced legal considerations, this is something that I am always thinking about. Some legal considerations that may come up is confidentially, signing our consent form, documentation and transportation. In order to begin services, our clients have to sign our consent form. Without the consent form, we are not able to provide services. When the client signs the consent form, it gives the agency permission to begin therapy sessions. This can become difficult when the parent signs the form, but the child does not want to. Documentation is a huge legal consideration within the agency. Often times we are told that if it is not documented, it did not happen. Documentation is a way to monitor the clients progress, but it also shows what the social worker did, and how it benefits the client (Birkemaier et al., 2018). Since the agency provides in-home and community services, employees are able to transport clients. Although I am not able to transport clients for field placement, I am able to for work. With that being said, we are required to get a higher insurance premium in case of an accident. This ensures that if an accident were to happen, the employee would be covered. Each of these are factors that should be considered each time when working with clients.

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Reference

Birkenmaier, J., & Berg-Weger, M. (2018). The practicum companion for social work: Integrating class and fieldwork (4th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.

COLLEAGUE: Mike

Hello Class,

Legal Considerations

As an intern, the major legal consideration I face is to make sure that I represent myself and my abilities as that of an intern to any clients that I may have. If I do not, I risk being sued in court for malpractice (Birkenmaier & Berg-Weger, 2018). Also the law regarding being subpoenaed to give testimony that includes priveleged information on a client. I would have to discuss this with my field supervisor and agency lawyer before determining what I can and can not say as a witness (Birkenmaier & Berg-Weger, 2018). Another legal consideration I might face is serving undocumented immigrants and face the issue of whether to give services and not ask questions or follow federal guidelines that seek to determine the immigration staus of clients before services are given (Birkenmaier & Berg-Weger, 2018).

Potential Challenges for Adherence to Legal Consioderations

To use the last example I gave as my first challenge, I would have to get supervision from my Field Instructor. As an intern I am a visitor of the agency and finding out the implied procedures for handling immigrant clients would inform my on whether to provide services or to try and secure immigration status before treatment. If the agency policy difffers from the federal mandate, I could be putting myself in danger of breaking a federal law. Another challenge is in reporting neglect if it is not considered neglect by the culture of the child. If I found out that a client was smoking marijuana that was being provided by their parent as a medication for anxiety, would I still need to report this to CPS as child endangerment/neglect. Again I would seek supervision and probably talk with the parent about getting a marijuana green card instead of calling CPS and potentially getting the client removed from their family.

Reference

Birkenmaier, J., & Berg-Weger, M. (2018). The practicum companion for social work: Integrating class and fieldwork (4th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.