Agenda-Driven Social Working Groups vs. Humanitarian Groups

The two classes into which social work organizations fall are broad: Groups with unselfish intentions and a genuine, humanitarian-driven desire to help all people, and groups that are driven by and serve as advocates for specific agendas or subsets of culture. In an examination of the code of ethics, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) - an organization that falls into the former category - and the American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC) - which falls into the latter category - the differences between groups with a purely humanitarian mission and agenda-driven groups operate in stark contrast.

A necessary aspect of providing quality service to clients is to be a strong advocate for the client and for their needs. Both the NASW and AACC include similar clauses in their codes of ethics, however, the intended result of advocacy stated in each code differs.

The NASW calls for social workers to challenge injustice with the intended goal of promoting "sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic diversity," a progressive view designed to encourage public discussions of ailments and social issues that impact clients and to reduce social injustices through knowledge while simultaneously promoting understanding and tolerance.

The AACC's code of ethics also calls of social awareness, but for issues that are more pointed, such as a call to build relationships so that the world can "taste the salt of Christ" ; an objective that is designed with a settlement mentality to specifically propagate an agenda rather than to advocate for a client.

"Social workers should not practice, condone, facilitate, or collaborate with any form of discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, political belief, religion, or mental or physical disability"; a theme repeated in the NASW code of ethics, which also states that social workers should work to understand these differences and also to respect them. Anti-discrimination, understanding, respect; the purpose of such sentiment is purely humanitarian by design, and has the effect of ensuring that the beliefs of all clients are respected.

The AACC, on the other hand, specifically designed portions of their code of ethics to deliberately discourage the beliefs and personal decisions of clients, expressly in matters where divorce, homosexuality, or a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy is concerned; saying of homosexuality "Christian counselors refuse to condone or advocate for the pursuit of or active involvement in homosexual, transgendered, and cross-dressing behavior, and in the adoption gay & lesbian & transgendered lifestyles by clients," and, "Christian counselors will refuse to describe or reduce human identity and nature to sexual reference or orientation," and goes a step further to promote the so-called "curing" of homosexuals either by transforming them into heterosexuals and into life-long celibates, actions which promotes a stated agenda, but may not best serve the interest of a client, nor respect a client, nor understand a client; saying of divorce that "Christian counselors refuse to assume the decision for client divorce. We may assist clients in analyzing and making the decision to divorce, insofar as it is biblically permissible, as God does allow for divorce in some cases," [crimes such as and spousal abuse are not circumstances under which "God" allows for divorce (Matt. 19:7-8 New International Version)] a stance that advocates a stated agenda, but may not light the best path for a client to follow; saying of abortion that "Christian counselors refuse to condone, advocate for, or assist the harmful actions of clients, especially those that imperil human life from conception to death," and that "Christian counselors refuse to condone or advocate for abortion and the abortion-related activities of clients," what the NASW would consider discrimination based on political and/or religious beliefs .

Both the NASW and the AACC contain information in their codes of ethics in regards to government relations. With the NASW, they only mention in their preamble that they encourage and work with local government entities to adopt elements of their code of ethics for use in law; a sort of noble effort to ensure that all clients are afforded what they see as basic rights . The AACC, on the other hand, takes a different approach that begins border on rebelling, saying that they will challenge governmental laws that they disagree with based on such preposterously wide-ranging criteria as if the laws "dishonors our God," a criterion that history has shown to be so open to interpretation that virtually anything can fit into such a classification if it is willed.

Finally, the codes of ethics of both organizations are carefully and legally worded, however, the first and most palpable difference is the length of the respective documents, whereas the NASW's code weighs in at just over 8,100 words , while the AACC's is obese in excess of 18,500 words. Under examination, it is the pointed agenda driven specifics of the AACC's code that is the culprit causing the excess fat. The very idea is almost ironic when one considers that the Ten Commandments, regarded by many as being one of the most important passages in all of Judeo-Christian mythology, only comes in at 313. The Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the United States of America comes in at under 500 words.

In making a comparison between the codes of ethics of two social work groups, one that is driven to provide services to all people in a progressive manner (NASW), and one where the objective of helping others is dualistically tied to the promotion of a specific agenda, and that service is only provided within the confines of said agenda in a settlement mentality (AACC), it is clear that clients should heavily research agenda driven groups such as the AACC to make certain that their agenda meets with the client's personal beliefs, which is especially important when the term "Christian" means one thousand different things when one thousand people are polled. To be certain that an organization's agenda will not conflict with personal beliefs, potential clients should fully read a group's code of ethics, and perhaps first consider agenda-agnostic organizations, such as the NASW.