Renewing the Ethics of Care for Social Work under the Trump Administration

Under the Trump administration, social workers across the United States are facing frequent and fundamental ethical dilemmas about the treatment of marginalized and oppressed people. This is evident in many practice and policy domains, but one particularly stark example is social workers tasked with providing clinical care for undocumented youths separated from guardians in detention facilities. These social workers are typically isolated in their practice, often supported only by workers who may have no formal social work training or understanding of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW, 2017) Code of Ethics as a framework for practice. The Code of Ethics was designed to provide guidance and accountability in precisely these moments and places of stress for social workers regardless of their personal perspectives on current political debates. To give a few examples, standard 1.01, “Commitment to Clients,” clarifies that “clients’ interests are primary”; section D of standard 3.09 states that “social workers should not allow an employing organization’s policies, procedures, regulations, or administrative orders to interfere with their ethical practice of social work”; and standard 4.02 states that “social workers should not practice, condone, facilitate, or collaborate with any form of discrimination,” including discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, or immigration status. Yet under pressure and without support, social workers in compromised and compromising settings may begin to imagine the Code of Ethics as unrealistic and out of touch—aspirational rather than imperative.