Foreword

• Author: Francis J. Turner
• Profession: Professor Emeritus
• Pages: 7-9

Foreword

Elayne Tanner

and

Marilyn Samuels have written

a

book

for

social

workers

that

is

timely, important, interesting,

and at

times troubling

in the

issues

it

raises.

For

this they

are to be

commended.

Managing

a

Legal

and

Ethical Social

Work

Practice

is

timely

for all

Canadian social workers since

we are now in an era in

which

our

practice

is

not

only governed

by a

moral commitment

to our

Codes

of

Ethics

but

also,

in

a

more compelling way,

by the

legal requirements

of

professional legisla-

tion

in its

various forms across

the

nation. Recent court cases

in

Canada,

Great Britain,

and the

United States have made

it

clear that social work prac-

tice

is

very much under public scrutiny. What

we do and

what

we do not do

is

of

considerable interest

to the

public

at

large through

the

scrutiny

of the

courts

and the

media. This,

of

course,

is a

sign

of

growing respect

for our

pro-

fession,

but a

respect that demands

a

demonstrably high standard

of

practice

by

those

who

bear

the

title

of

social worker.

Managing

a

Legal

and

Ethical Social

Work

Practice

is an

important book

because

it

touches

on a

range

of

daily practice issues that,

in

many instances,

are

much more complex than

we

have thought them

to be in the

past.

For

example, issues like confidentiality

and

disclosure have become such intri-

cate concepts that colleagues acting

from

the

very best

of

intentions

can

find

themselves

in

serious

difficulty

if

they

do not

understand

the

legal demands

of

practice.

The

book

is

interesting because

it

touches

on a

range

of

practice compo-

nents

for

which there

are not

always ready answers

and for

which

a

range

of

opinions exist.

The

authors help

us to

understand

the

spectrum

of

issues

involved

in

some

of

these

difficult

practice scenarios through

a rich use of

case examples

from

our own and

other related professions

as

well

as

from

other jurisdictions.

Managing

a

Legal

and

Ethical Social

Work

Practice

is

also

a

troubling

volume

as it

brings into

focus

the

many issues

and

responsibilities that

accompany contemporary social work practice

for

which,

at

times, there

are

vii