International Social Work: Issues and Ethical Dilemmas

Running head: INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL WORK
International Social Work
Name of Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL WORK
Chosen Scenario:
A 14 year old transgender student sent home from school for wearing a ‘girls’ school
uniform when the enrolment record shows their gender as male.
Potential Issues and Ethical Dilemmas:
1. Awareness of the Therapist
The therapist working with the young child needs to have comprehensive knowledge
about the treatment protocols and the procedures that are related to the effective treatment
of the individual who is transgender (Chen & Simons, 2018). The World Professional
Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) provides the basic Standard of Care to be
used by social workers or therapists in being able to help them in working with
transsexuals (Knudson et al., 2018). If the 14 year old in the chosen scenario is interested
in gender-transition, the therapists who are working with these children need to be able to
provide a very extensive clinical resources to assist the patients in the treatment.
2. Awareness of the Available Resources by the Therapist
It is very important for the therapist who is working with the child, or with any other
transgender patient, to be aware of the resources that are available in the community. In
example, the therapist needs to be aware of any of the referral contacts for
endocrinologists and other psychiatrists, if the therapist themselves are not being able to
help to their maximum ability (Crall & Jackson, 2016). In addition to providing mental
support to the child who is going through the ordeal of not being accepted in his true
identity, it is equally important for the therapist to engage with the parents in the same
way to give them a peace of mind. The therapists need to make sure that the whole
situation is not an isolated experience for the child and the parents, because hearing the

2INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL WORK
stories of other transgender youth and their families will feel validating for everyone in
the family to proceed towards acceptance. Through the awareness of support groups by
the therapists, the youth who are struggling with identity along with the parents can have
a chance to openly talk in a safe environment.
3. Therapist Providing Support
More often than not, transgender youth are being forced to function in a society that
does not truly understand or support their transgender identity. This is where the role of
the therapist comes in where they are able to advocate for their client and their family.
Advocating can simply mean educating within the systems so to make sure that their
clients are able to be treated with an increased level of care and consideration for their
situation. Therapists, along with school staff and teachers, need to undertake sensitivity
training so that they can understand the unique needs of the transgender youth, which is
what results in discrimination against transgender children (Wright, Candy & King,
2018). Not providing the right kind and amount of emotional support to a child who is
still going through his adolescent phase can have great negative impacts on the mental
state of the individual in the long term.
4. Therapist being up-to-Date
For a therapist consulting a child who is transgender, it will definitely have to be a
long-term agreement between them because constant and sudden change for children can
negatively impact their mental state (Chen & Simmons, 2018). Due to this, it is important
for the therapist to be proactive in continuously putting in effort to acquire knowledge of
the subject, related research and literature along with the present social issues that the
transgender communities are facing in all walks of life, and also for all ages. It is true that
there is only a limited amount of scholarly resources available for the topic of