Ethical Dilemma Assignment, Essay Example

Mr. Diaz is a Hispanic, 45 year old male that was just released from prison after 9 years for breaking and entering into his girlfriend’s apartment.  He is on parole for five years and is mandated to attend weekly anger management group, drug and alcohol treatment services.  He also has a curfew of 7pm.  Currently he is living in New York City (Brooklyn) with his mother who is 75 years old.

Mr. Diaz started to come see me a week after he was released from prison.  During our first session he gave me an impression that he was very skeptical of what we were going to be doing and didn’t seem to think he needed to be there. So naturally I was surprised when he continued to come back weekly.  As Mr. Diaz continued to attend I noticed a shift in our relationship. I felt I had built a therapeutic alliance with him and I realized he was starting to feel comfortable enough to open up to me.  During our fifth session he told me he was out drinking shots of vodka and staying out past his curfew.

I knew Mr. Diaz was on parole and part of his stipulation was to be in his house by 7pm along with attending the drug and alcohol program.  I also knew that when he was arrested this last time he was drunk, high and tried to chock his girlfriend.

The ethical dilemma is do I tell his parole officer he had been breaking curfew and drinking (my assumption was that he was also doing drugs)?  I realized if I did that my client would most likely be rearrested.  Did I want to put my client back in prison; definitely not. The re-entry program I was interning for was not a mandated program for ex-prisoners so Mr. Diaz was free to come and go as he pleased so I didn’t want to jeopardize our therapeutic alliance by reporting him.  Also, the main goal of the agency is to keep their clients out of prison.   Knowing the goal of the agency and being new as an intern and to the social work field in general I was faced with this decision to make.