Skip Navigation


BJSW Advance Access originally published online on October 3, 2005
British Journal of Social Work 2006 36(1):91-107; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bch248
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
36/1/91    most recent
bch248v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Swain, P. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

A Camel’s Nose Under the Tent? Some Australian Perspectives on Confidentiality and Social Work Practice

Phillip A. Swain

The original version of this paper was presented to Drummond Street Relationship Centre Conference ‘Family Lawyers, Counsellors and Mediators’, Melbourne, Australia, November 2003. Phillip A. Swain, LLB (Hons.), Dip. Soc. Studs., SJD (Melbourne), MSW (Michigan), Grad. Dip. Comptg. (Deakin) is an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work at The University of Melbourne. He co-edited with Dr Shurlee Swain To Search for Self: The Experience of Access to Adoption Information (Federation Press, 1992), and with Graeme Brewer Where Rights are Wronged: A Critique of Australia’s Compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (National Children’s Bureau of Australia, 1993). The second edition of his most recent text, In the Shadow of the Law: The Legal Context of Social Work Practice, was published by Federation Press in March 2002.

Correspondence to Phillip A. Swain, School of Social Work, The University of Melbourne, 3010, Victoria, Australia. E-mail: paswain{at}unimelb.edu.au

This article examines contemporary meanings attributed to the ethical principle of confidentiality—a core practice dimension for social workers—in the context of current practice realities and legislative requirements. The meanings usually attributed to the term, together with Code of Practice requirements, are considered alongside the organizational and legal riders so frequently used to justify a stepping away from what clients may consider confidentiality to require. The particular difficulties associated for those in practice with families and children, and the implications of attention to best interests and paramount rights notions, are examined. The article concludes that, in lieu of a misleading commitment to confidentiality, the practitioner rather needs to commit to respectful and open dealing with client information.

Keywords: confidentiality, ethics, best interests, social work practice.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Br J Soc WorkHome page
R. Pugh
Dual Relationships: Personal and Professional Boundaries in Rural Social Work
Br. J. Soc. Work, December 1, 2007; 37(8): 1405 - 1423.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.