You work in the human service industry as a youth worker specifically working with young clients (under the age of 18) in shared out-of-home residential care. There are three children in the home; a 13-year-old girl, a 15-year-old boy, and a 16-year-old girl. Each of these children have experienced a significant amount of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse from both their birth families and some of their foster families. During the course of one conversation, the 13-year-old girl confides in you that the 15-year-old boy and the 16-year-old girl have engaged in sexual contact on a number of occasions, although she does not provide more information beyond this revelation. You are immediately concerned about the sexual health and mental wellbeing of all three children as a result of these revelations. You are also concerned that all of these children have experienced significant disruption to their foster care circumstances and that the removal of one child will once again result in them being forced to adapt to another new home environment. Part of ensuring their ability to adapt once they leave the residence is to provide stability for them now.

What is your responsibility to each of the clients?  What ethical guidance can you use to decide what to do, particularly in regards your legal obligations, the ability of the children to consent to the relationship, and to ensure their future wellbeing if one or both are moved out of the home?

ASSIGNMENT:

Consider what dilemmas are presented by the case study, and how these issues might be informed by the theories examined in this subject. For this essay, you will need to choose two of the following theories to apply to the case study:

• Universal ethical egoism.

• Act utilitarianism.

• Rule utilitarianism.

• Care ethics.

• Intuitionism.

• Divine command theory.

• Kant’s duty ethics.

• Ross’s prima facie duties.

• Nicomachean virtue ethics.

• Confucian role ethics.