Ethical dilemmas in policy practice: a Conceptual Framework

Policy practice refers to the engagement of social workers in policy processes as part of their job. Over the last decades the discourse on policy practice has expanded significantly. However, missing still is a comprehensive and systematic discussion focused on the ethical dilemmas that emerge when social workers engage in policy practice. The aim of this article is to offer a novel conceptual framework that identifies and categorises the diverse potential ethical dilemmas that emerge when social workers engage in policy practice. The framework draws upon the general conceptual and empirical literature on ethical issues within social work, the more specific macro practice literature which discusses ethical dilemmas, and our experience as teachers who have instructed social workers and social work students in policy practice. It combines two axes: the first axis relates to three prevalent types of ethical conflicts common both in direct and macro social work practice and the second relates schematically to three explicit or implicit decisions that social workers are required to take either prior to, or during, their engagement in policy process. The interactions between these two axes create 19 policy practice ethical dilemmas that are presented in the article.