F25-503 Ethics for Macro Social Work Practitioners
Total Credits: 3 including 3 Ethic CEs
- Bundle(s):
- Fall 2025 Ethics Workshops
- Categories:
- 500 Ethics | 700 Professional Growth & Development
- Instructor:
- Jonathan D. White, Ph.D., LCSW-C, CPH
- Course Levels:
- Intermediate
- Duration:
- 3 Hours 15 Minutes
- Target Audience:
- Social Workers, LCPCs, and Psychologists
Description
Although many social workers pursue careers in macro-level practice areas, such as program operations, management, and policy, most social work ethics trainings are focused on the ethical challenges encountered in clinical-level work. Macro practice, however, is replete with ethical dilemmas unique to that level of work, including where the consequences of ethical errors include the possibility of significant harm to large numbers of people. This course zeroes in on social work ethical challenges specific to macro settings, especially governmental program management and operations. We will re-evaluate the familiar advice many of us learned in school that "if your agency is doing something unethical, you need to quit" and examine the limits to that approach in terms of duties to clients. Considering the ethical challenges encountered in macro practice in both "domain" and "host" agency settings, this course is designed to offer social workers both a decision-making structure and a defined set of macro-specific intervention and action tools.
This workshop is in accordance with and compliance with the NASW Standards with a focus on service, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, competence, and social workers’ ethical responsibilities to clients, to colleagues, in practice settings, as professionals, to the social work profession, to the broader society.
This workshop is in compliance with the Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners’ COMAR 10.42.03.06.A(5) and with the District of Columbia Board of Social Work 17-70-7008.4. This workshop meets the Ethics CE license renewal requirements for Maryland and the District of Columbia.
Instructor
Jonathan D. White, Ph.D., LCSW-C, CPH Related Seminars and Products
Jonathan White, PhD, LCSW-C (he/him), is a clinical social worker, a retired US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officer, and an emergency manager specializing in the needs of children and vulnerable populations in crisis events.
He served in the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), US Department of Health and Human Services, where he was the director of the Office of Community Mitigation and Recovery, the office responsible for HHS’ disaster behavioral health, community resilience, and disaster recovery programs.* In that role, he also served as national coordinator for the Health, Education, and Human Services Recovery Support Function, which is responsible for sectoral elements of long-term disaster recovery missions nationwide.
In 2018–2019, he led the mission to reunify children separated from their parents at the US border as the federal health coordinating official for the reunification mission, and served as the HHS operational lead for family reunification. In testimony before Congress, he was the first federal official to describe the harms of family separation to children and to advocate an end to separation for reasons other than the safety of the child. His efforts in 2017-2018 to prevent family separation, and in 2018-2019 to reunify children with their parents, are featured in Errol Morris’ 2024 documentary film Separated, Caitlin Dickerson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2022 Atlantic article “Family Separation: An American Tragedy,” Jacob Soboroff’s bestselling book Separated, and books by Jean Guerrero, Julie Hirschfeld Davis, and Michael D. Shear.
Prior to joining ASPR, he was the deputy director for children’s programs in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), where he led the Unaccompanied Children Program, which provides care and services to 40,000–60,000 children and youth annually who enter the US without parents or legal guardians. He previously served as senior adviser in ACF’s Immediate Office of the Assistant Secretary, responsible for crisis management, public health, and strategic initiatives. Prior to that he served as deputy director of ACF’s Office of Human Services Emergency Preparedness and Response. Earlier in his social work career, he was an oncology social worker with the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, and in prior careers he taught English to undergraduates and coordinated logistics for international labor union campaigns. He holds a Maryland LCSW-C, and is a Maryland Board-approved supervisor. He has deployed or held national-level leadership roles in over eighty domestic disaster, public health emergency, and humanitarian crisis events.
* Position information for identification purposes only. Course content does not necessarily reflect positions of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Agenda & Learning Objectives
AGENDA:
8:50 am – 9:00 am Log on
9:00 am – 10:30 am
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Introduction (5 minutes)
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What they taught us macro social work was in social work school—and what it really is: the scope of macro practice defined (10 minutes)
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How I learned to stop worrying and love bureaucracy—social work practice in governmental settings (15 minutes)
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Duties of macro social workers, as defined in the NASW Code, and how those duties can come into conflict (30 minutes)
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Ethical horizons of beneficence, non-maleficence, and benevolence in the context of governmental action (10 minutes)
10:30 – 10:45 Break
10:45 – 12:15 pm
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Why just saying something is unethical almost never changes policy or procedure (15 minutes)
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The old advice “If your agency requires you to do something unethical, your ethical remedy is to quit”—and how implementing it can harm clients (15 minutes)
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If I don’t quit, what can I do?: intro to three core interventions other than quitting (5 minutes)
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Core Intervention #1: Delay (15 minutes)
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Core Intervention #2: Expose (15 minutes)
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Core Intervention #3: Subvert (15 minutes)
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Questions and Wrap-up (15 minutes)
12:15 Adjournment
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Upon the completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
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Define macro social work practice in large institutional settings, such as government bureaucracies.
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Enumerate, with reference to the NASW Code of Ethics, potentially conflicting duties of macro practitioners.
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Elaborate three core interventions, other than quitting, for macro practitioners facing unethical agency behaviors.
Bibliography & References
BIBLIOGRAPHY & REFERENCES
Balaz, R. (2020). Be ready for the clash of powers: Theorising power for teaching policy practice in social work. European Journal of Social Work, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2022.2161485
Confucius (1995). The Analects. Trans. W. E. Soothill. Dover.
Machiavelli, N. (1950). The Prince and The Discourses. Trans. M. Lerner. The Modern Library.
National Association of Social Workers (2021). NASW Code of Ethics. Code of Ethics: English (socialworkers.org)
Netting, F.E., Kettner, P.M., and McMurtry, S.L. (2004). Social Work Macro Practice (3rd ed). Pearson Education.
Reamer, F. G. (2018). Social work values and ethics (5th ed.). Columbia University Press.
Weiss-Gal, I., Smila-Sened, S., & Gal, J. (2023). Ethical dilemmas in policy practice: a Conceptual Framework. European Journal of Social Work, 27(4), 775–786. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2023.2200905
Witt, H., & Levin, K. (2021). Ethical dilemmas in human rights field education: A case study on macro practice in a reproductive-rights policy setting. Journal of Human Rights and Social Work, 6(1), 78–81. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-020-00142-0
Course Completion & CE Information
Category I Maryland BSWE Requirement
The Office of Continuing Professional Education at the University of Maryland School of Social Work is authorized by the Board of Social Work Examiners in Maryland to sponsor social work continuing education programs. This workshop qualifies for 3 Category I Continuing Education Units for Ethics. The Office of Continuing Professional Education is also authorized by the Maryland Board of Psychologists and the Maryland Board of Professional Counselors to sponsor Category A continuing professional education.
ASWB Information
University of Maryland School of Social Work Office of Continuing Professional Education, #1611, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 2/11/2024-2/11/2027.
To receive ACE credit, full attendance is required; no partial credits will be given for partial attendance.
Certificate Access
To access the evaluation and certificate, click on the orange certificate button in your CPE account. Once you complete the evaluation, access to the certificate will be available.
Live Interactive Webinars (Cat I) and Live Webinars (Cat II) - Allow up to 30 minutes post-training for attendance to be verified, then you will be able to access the evaluation and certificate.
In Person Trainings - Please allow five (5) business days post-training for attendance to be verified, then you will be able to access the evaluation and certificate.
Please refer to the tab "Live Interactive Webinar Policies & FAQs" for UMSSW Office of CPE policies regarding all live interactive webinar related matters. Contact our office at cpe@ssw.umaryland.edu for more information.
Evaluation
Participants will have access to the evaluation after attendance has been verified. Evaluations will be available for one (1) week after the workshop has ended.
After one (1) week, participants will no longer have access to the evaluation and will have to contact CPE about reactivation.
Target Audience
Social Workers, LCPCs, and Psychologists
We welcome anyone interested in the topic!
Live Interactive Webinar Platforms
LIVE INTERACTIVE WEBINAR PLATFORMS
The Office of Continuing Professional Education hosts Live Interactive Webinars through Zoom. This platform offers a high quality and user-friendly webinar platform for our registrants.
System Requirements:
- Operating Systems: Windows XP or higher; MacOS 9 or higher; Android 4.0 or higher.
- Internet Browser: Google Chrome; Firefox 10.0 or higher.
Our system is not compatible with the Safari web browser.
- Broadband Internet Connection: Cable, High-speed DSL and any other medium that is internet accessible.
**Please have your device charging at all times to ensure that your device does not lose power during the webinar.
Course Interaction Requirements:
To participate in Live Interactive Webinars, you MUST have a device that allows you to view the presentation on screen and hear the instructor at all times. We do not allow participants to call-in from their phones or mobile devices and solely listen to the presentation. Participation in Live Interactive Webinars is mandatory.
Our webinar policies can be found on our website by clicking here.
Webinar Policies & FAQs
Click The Link to View The Webinar Policies & FAQs
https://umbsswcpe.ce21.com/Page/live-interactive-webinar-procedures-policies-4129
Code of Conduct
The Office of Continuing Professional Education at the University of Maryland School of Social Work adheres to the NASW Code of Ethics. This policy is to ensure that the training environment for social work professionals remains respectful, productive, and conducive to learning. Disruptive behavior that interferes with the learning process, disrupts the training experience for others, or undermines the integrity of the program will not be tolerated.
Expectations for Participant Engagement:
In alignment with the NASW Code of Ethics and the University of Maryland Baltimore Code of Conduct, participants are expected to demonstrate professionalism, which includes respecting confidentiality, maintaining a collaborative and respectful tone, and contributing positively to the group dynamic. Disclosures made during the training (e.g., case studies or personal reflections) must be handled with care and in accordance with ethical and legal guidelines.
All participants in the training program are expected to:
- Engage actively in the learning process and show respect for the opinions and contributions of others.
- Demonstrate professionalism in both attitude and behavior, maintaining respect for instructors, peers, and the training environment.
- Maintain open communication by expressing concerns or disagreements constructively and respectfully.
- Follow the guidelines and expectations provided by instructors and facilitators.
- Support a collaborative learning environment where all participants feel valued and safe to contribute.
Instructors and CPE staff reserve the right to dismiss participants who do not adhere to ethical/professional principles and standards. If removed, CEs will be adjusted to reflect the time attended, unless otherwise specified.
ADA Accommodations
If you are requesting ADA accommodations, please contact our office via email at least two weeks prior to the workshop date. Requests after that date may not be fulfilled.
Our email address is cpe@ssw.umaryland.edu.
Late Fees and Refunds
The base price is $70, which includes CE credit.
Late Fee: On 10/03/25, a non-refundable late fee of $20 is added to the base price. Late fees cannot be refunded or applied to account credit.
Cancellations: **ALL cancellations will be subjected to a $35.00 administration fee.** To be eligible for a refund or CPE account credit, cancellations must be made at least 24 hours before the workshop.
For more information, please read the general policies on our website.