Unethical Use of Adoptee Testimonials

This was posted on PEAR‘s Facebook page by a member — the APRC (Adoption Policy And Reform Collaborative) letter to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) .

According to APRC, there are allegations of unethical use of “adopted person panels and testimony at the conference entitled “Domestic and International Adoption: Strategies to Improve Behavioral Health Outcomes for Youth and Their Families.””

See the letter in pdf form at APRC’s website here.

One excerpt on social workers: “Similarly, the Social Work Code of Ethics indicates:

1.06 Conflicts of Interest

(b) Social workers should not take unfair advantage of any professionalrelationship or exploit others to further their personal, religious, political, or business interests.

3

(c) Social workers should not engage in dual or multiple relationships with clientsor former clients in which there is a risk of exploitation or potential harm to theclient. In instances when dual or multiple relationships are unavoidable, social workers should take steps to protect clients and are responsible for setting clear, appropriate, and culturally sensitive boundaries. (Dual or multiple relationships occur when social workers relate to clients in more than one relationship, whether professional, social, or business. Dual or multiple relationships can occur simultaneously or consecutively.)”

If only this part of the social worker ethics was enforced, we wouldn’t have to keep posting photolisting blogs.Sigh. Adoption Service Providers have cornered the market on “unethical” from preadoptive to postadoptive phases!

REFORM Puzzle Piece