Teen Pregnancy: Human Services Ethics and Interventions

Kaplan University HN144

Gary lives in Chicago with his mother and younger sister. He feels as though he cannot depend on his mother for anything and his father is absent in his life except for a few phone calls a year. The environment Gary lives in, is very poor. His family never has had much and he has never gotten much attention from his mother and he considers his sister his responsibility. I believe a lot of Gary’s behaviors are due to his father being absent and never having an adult role model to look up to. He has never been shown how to really care and provide for a child. His decision-making skills are poor due to the fact he has little confidence in himself even about the littlest of things.

I am hoping that in working with Gary, we can work on his confidence and self-esteem. To change his behavior, I would like to make a plan with him on becoming more responsible so he can take on the role of a father for his child. Gary participates in risky behaviors such as drug use. I believe that he would benefit from drug counseling as well as regular counseling sessions to help him with his current life challenge. These changes would not only be beneficial to him but also his wife and their child.

There is one major ethical concern I have when working with Gary and his family. My concern is for their young child. Gary often states how frustrated he gets with the crying of the baby. He said he feels as though it’s going to drive him completely crazy. The NOHS standard I’d like to refer to is number 4. This standard states that if I were to suspect danger or harm that may be done to himself or others, that I may go to an outside source such as seeking a consultation for him, or requesting supervision as to protect the safety of him and his family.

Using these standards impacts human services professional because it gives them rules to follow. As an HSP, one specific way I would use Standard seven. It states that HSP’s ensure that their values or biases are not imposed upon a client. If I imposed my values upon Gary, he may as feel as though I was judging him or I may make him feel as though he is not good enough which would not help him. It would hurt his self-esteem in the end.

I would like to refer Gary to a program called PTS (Parents to Soon). This program is to help teen parents in high risk communities. Parents to soon is administered by the Bureau of Childhood Development and “The goal of the program is the help the teen parents how to effectively parent their child, improve the health and emotional development of the teen, enhance self-sufficiency, and promote healthy growth and development of their children.” (Illinois Dept. Of Human Services) This program provides home visits and peer group meetings. I believe this program could help Gary by introducing him to other teens in the area that are in the same situation. It would help him see that he is not alone in this and it would teach him how to care for his child and handle the stress of being a teen parent. The contact information for this program is 1-800-843-6154. They also have a ling on their website so you can email them. The website is www.dhs.state.il.us.

Gary’s case outcome may have been drastically different if he had been provided with the services mentioned above. He may have finished high school and he would have the resources to appropriately handle the babies crying. Being familiar with the ethical standards and the resources offered in the area will help you to help Gary. You are able to abide by the ethics code and know when it is time to find another service professional to help. Knowing the resources in the area will help you find the programs that would benefit Gary the most. This strengthened the relationship between us because he was able to trust me to provide ethical and reliable information and knew that what he told me was also confidential unless it was about harming him or someone else.

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