This week each student from our
class presented on a topic that they were considering for their final research
paper. They discussed their ethical question, at least three ethical principles
they would use in their paper, the conclusion they were considering making, and
finally it was opened up to the class for questions or clarifications that
people had or some made suggestions on something in order to help the author of
the paper when they were writing it. I’m glad we did this as a class because I’m
always curious as to what others are interested in and maybe subjects that I’ve
never even thought to look into before. Student presentations reminded me of
all of the subjects we’ve covered in the class over the course of the semester.
This allowed me to recall the ethical principles that we discussed during that
particular topic and served essentially as a review for me. It also was
interesting to see what other students thought was interesting or that as a
class we didn’t go into enough detail on and what parts they wanted to further
research. Three that really stuck out to me were Sarah Beddow’s, Merideth Erusha’s, and Jenna Smoger.
Sarah’s presentation on sibling
separation in foster care is one that we skimmed over briefly in the class but
is one that presents lots of additional questions. When she brought up stopping
the cycle of sexual abuse that trickles down from sibling to sibling, that made
me see a whole new side to the conversation. After seeing the foster care film
and reading Shattered Bonds, I had begun to think of foster care completely opposite
of how I had before and was only focusing on that side; that keeping families
together is best. However Sarah’s presentation was enlightening on this issue
because it made me see both sides again.
Meredith was interested in finding out
more about the ethics used by social workers in the foster care system. I was
impressed with her initial research of interviewing various people that were involved
in the foster care system. What she found out about what they practiced was
pretty much everything we had talked about in class as being the correct
ethical choices. I’ve struggled a lot in my back and forth opinion about what should
be done to the foster care system to improve it. I’ve come to the over
simplified conclusion that there needs to be more social workers that have
taken bias tests and been trained to make the most ethical decisions possible. These
tie into non-maleficence and beneficence in that they should always be trying
to keep families together to keep from doing harm. The principle of beneficence says
refraining from hurting others isn’t enough to be a morally good person; we
must also sometimes go out of our way to benefit others. I think this, in addition
to having MORE workers to lighten caseloads would be the best attitude to take
on when considering children. I think it would do the system a lot of good if
they tried to make the situation better by helping before taking the child
away. (In most situations.)
Jenna’s presentation today was on whether
or not people with mental illnesses should be allowed to keep custody of their
children if they are not on their meds. She decidedly said that they should not
but the class followed up with many interesting questions like, ‘what if there
is another parent in the household?’. She didn’t give explicit ethical
principles that she planned on using but this gave me an opportunity to
consider what ones might come into play. A reproductive right was the first
issue that came up in my mind but then also the right of children to be raised
in a nurturing and caring environment. These two might clash in the situation
that Jenna is presenting to us. The parents have a right to their children
first and foremost as long as they are taking adequate care of them. So people
with the more minor mental illnesses should not be included in this because
they are usually able to perform well as parents even with their internal
struggles.
After seeing everyone present and
being able to reflect on all that we’ve covered since January, what I will walk
away with this semester is not only a greater overall understanding in the area
of adoption but also that many, many people and situations in life have a
relationship to adoption. Even more than that, there are so many controversial issues
that tie in with adoption ethics too, which gave me a better grasp on issues
like gay marriage and civil unions, cultural differences between countries,
racial discrimination, and the reproductive rights of women, to name only a
few. Now in the future when I read about
any of these issues I’ll be able to think more critically about them and I’ll
be able to see them through the lens of adoption and the best interests of
children. Which is the main point that I hope I’ll continue to carry with me:
that in any situation involving a child, it is most important to remain
conscious of the fact that they are powerless in their current predicaments and
that the people making the choices involving them will affect that person for
the rest of their lives in one way or another.
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