Index IntroductionACA and ASCA Codes Relevant to the Case ScenarioEthical Decision Making Model ProcessIntroductionA middle school counselor in a large suburban public school in the United States The United States met weekly for one-hour sessions with a 13-year-old seventh-grade male student for aggressive behaviors such as shoving, verbal disrespect, and threatening classmates with physical violence when feeling anxious or frustrated. During the fifth weekly session in the counseling office, the student admits to the counselor that he was encouraged by his father to enlist his two best friends and engage in a fight, after school and off campus, with two third graders media who have been bullying him for months, both at school and cyberbullying through social media. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The student feels uncertain and conflicted about this suggestion, but wants to obey and please his father and appear brave and bold; therefore, he plans to meet the kids in a tree-lined park near the school later that day. The student reports that his mother is aware and supportive of the situation, but the counselor believes the student is lying about it. What, if anything, should the school counselor do to prevent the student and his friends from engaging in a fight with the bullies? Should the counselor contact the student's father to discuss the situation and/or should he or she notify the student's mother? The parents have been divorced since the student was nine years old and the two do not currently have a friendly relationship, although they share civil joint custody of their son. ACA and ASCA Codes Relevant to the Case Scenario The school counselor turned to the ACA and ASCA codes of ethics for guidance. Below are three relevant passages from the ASCA Ethics Standards for School Counselors (2016) and one from the ACA Code of Ethics (2014):A.2.e. Keep information confidential unless legal requirements require that the confidential information be disclosed or a breach is necessary to prevent serious and foreseeable harm to the student. Severe and foreseeable harm is different for each child in schools and is determined by the students' developmental and chronological age, context, parental rights and the nature of the harm. School counselors consult with appropriate professionals when in doubt about the validity of an exception.A.9.a. Inform parents/guardians and/or relevant authorities when a student poses a serious and foreseeable risk of harm to themselves or others. Whenever possible, this should be done after careful assessment and consultation with other appropriate professionals. School counselors inform students of their legal and ethical obligations to report the problem to the appropriate authorities, unless it is appropriate to withhold this information to protect the student (for example, the student may run away if he or she knows his or her parents are being called). The consequence of the risk of not giving parents/guardians the opportunity to intervene on behalf of their child is too great. Even if the danger appears relatively remote, parents should be notified.A.11.a. School counselors report all incidents of bullying, dating violence, and sexual harassment to the administration because most fall under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 or other federal and state laws as illegal and require administrator intervention. School counselors provide services to victims and.
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