8.1 Chapter Overview
Ethical Standards for Human Services Professionals
Standard 7: Human services professionals ensure that their values or biases are not imposed upon their clients (NOHS, 2015).
This chapter focuses on two of the most important aspects of children’s lives: their families and educational settings. It applies the ecological systems theory that you read about in Chapter 1 to these relationships and settings. In addition, you will learn about child welfare programs, the impact of poverty on children, and human services programs that are based in schools.
Standard 7 reminds us that, as human services professionals, we must ensure that our values and biases are not imposed on clients. Many of us are passionate about protecting children, but we must remember that parents and educators are also deeply invested in caring for the children in their lives. Although we may have different viewpoints, it is important to recognize the responsibility that parents and educators each have for children. Our work is to help them solve life’s problems using their strengths and support systems.
Licenses and Attributions
“Chapter Overview” by Elizabeth B. Pearce is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Revised by Martha Ochoa-Leyva.
Learning Objectives
- Define family and the various structures it takes in the United States.
- Describe how children and families are served in the human services field.
- Explain how school-based programs and human services providers are connected.
- Discuss how human services and the child welfare system interact.
Key Terms
Key terms are important vocabulary for understanding the content of the chapters. They will be bolded and defined via an in-text glossary the first time that they appear in the chapter.
Key terms for this chapter are:
- Kin: people related to one another, family
- Adoption: the social, emotional, and legal process in which children who will not be raised by their birth parents become full and permanent legal members of another family
- Child welfare: typically refers to any situation where the child’s needs are paramount and their immediate protection takes priority over the other family needs
- Foster care: a temporary placement of a child with another family while parents are resolving issues
- Socialization: process through which we learn the culture of the social groups that we belong to.
- Individualized Education Plan (IEP): a comprehensive plan that outlines the special education instruction, support, and services a student needs to succeed in school. It is a legally binding agreement created for eligible students who attend public school, including charter schools, and falls under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
- Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP): a written legal document that outlines the support and services required for infants and toddlers with developmental delays to catch up with peers. It is created for eligible kids from birth to age three who need extra help with physical, communication, self-help, cognitive, or social-emotional skills. It is covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or special education law.
- Mandatory reporter: a person who has an individual legal duty to report known or suspected abuse or neglect relating to children, elders, or dependent adults.
Licenses and Attributions
“Learning Objectives and Key Terms” by Terese Jones, Nora Karena and Elizabeth B. Pearce is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Revised by Martha Ochoa-Leyva.
a professional field focused on helping people solve their problems.
focuses on the bi-diorectional impacts of an individual with different aspects of society
well-being
the state of lacking material and social resources needed to live a healthy life
typically refers to any situation where the child’s needs are paramount and their immediate protection takes priority over the other family needs