The complex encounter of Israeli social workers with the legal arena on the issue of confidentiality

Abstract

Social workers are bound to maintaining confidentiality of information provided by service users. The client provides information on the assumption that the social worker will maintain his privacy even in legal proceedings. However, sometimes social workers are forced to break the boundaries of confidentiality in accordance with legislation, such as in reporting harm or injury to a minor by his/her guardian, even if the latter is the social worker's client. This study examined the attitude of Israeli courts toward the limits of maintaining confidentiality in social work, using a quantitative-descriptive research of documents - judgments selected for this study. In the social work cases presented, the court outlined the boundaries of confidentiality and its perception of social workers’ professional work. The findings revealed that social workers’ clients rarely filed personal claims against them. The main legal issue raised in the judgments was the removal of confidentiality; most of the judgments found that the breach of confidentiality claim between social worker and client was unjustified. The study concludes by offering several courses of action to help educate social workers in dealing with the desire to maintain confidentiality in daily practice.