Social Work Ethics -Practice and Practitioners

The constitution and description of social work professional codified ethics across social work literature and professional associations claim to offer coherent and inter-professional universal guidelines for ethical dccision-making, practice and professional conduct. Autonomous “ethically unfouiidcd” moral judgement appears to be subsumed, in practice, in favour of professional obligation, institutional mandates and allocation of resources. This paper analyses relationships between professional codes of ethics, practitioncrs' actions and outcomes for clients. The works of Zygmunt Bauman, in the first instance, provide insights into the efficacy of codified ethics as they relate to moral-ethical social work practice. It is argued that there is incompatibility between professional obligation aimed towards social work professionals and the best interests of clients. Such incompatibility is demonstrated throughout the article, which calls for a statement of moral-ethical conduct that acknowledges the structural and systemic barriers to achievement of social work purpose so that social work professionals might-in reality-work in the best interest of their clients.