Helping Professional's Guide to Ethics

Valerie Bryan (MSW, PhD, University of Kentucky) is associate professor and former program baccalaureate program director at the University of South Alabama. While teaching across the generalist social work curriculum, her scholarly areas of interest include applied ethics, juvenile justice, gender studies, child welfare, and health disparities. Scott Sanders (MSW, Grand Valley State University; PhD, University of Kentucky) is program director and professor of social work at Lourdes University. He advocates for a practical application of ethical decision-making to school social workers, substance abuse counselors, child and family service workers, and social work educators. Laura E. Kaplan, (PhD, MSW, LCSW, University of Kentucky) teaches with Fordham University's Graduate School of Social Services online MSW program. She provides professional CEU courses and consults in the United States and abroad. She also reviews federal grant applications and has publishedprofessional articles, textbooks, instructor manuals, and curricula. Her extensive background in community activism and professional practice has laid the groundwork for her interest in ethics and human rights and social justice in social work practice and education.

The second edition of The Helping Professional's Guide to Ethics is even better than the first. I applaud the authors' keen critique of a values approach to ethical reasoning, which is predominate in social work. This sets the stage for the crystal-clear presentation of the common morality framework, which is the center of this important book. Case examples are rich and interesting, and they add to the utility and humanity of the common morality method. This is animportant book for the helping professions.