Breaching confidentiality and ‘empowerment’?

ABSTRACT

This case study evaluates my experiences as a student social worker relating to safeguarding procedures, sharing of information and breach of confidentiality within a community-based, third sector organisation providing gender-specific services to vulnerable females. Concerns existed regarding the underlying ethical processes involved in balancing the rights of a service user ‘Janet’, with disclosure of information for (non-relational) child safeguarding. The impact of this for both the children involved and Janet are considered, and the implications for service user empowerment discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Confidentiality
• empowerment
• rules
• practice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Coleen Lunt at the time of writing is a second year student on a Social Work Masters program at Liverpool John Moores University, UK, having completed a psychology first degree. She is a mother of two small children and currently employed as a specialist substance misuse worker for adolescents, having spent the last 14 years working in the areas of substance misuse, mental health and youth offending.

Notes

1 All names in this paper have been changed to protect service user anonymity.