Re: Ethical Question

[Jschiff139@xxxxxxx]

I can't answer from a social work perspective as I am an attorney.  However, 
I represented the children services' board in Hamilton County (Cincinnati) 
Ohio for eight years prosecuting child abuse/neglect cases.  

The brutal reality is that the resources available for any service for 
children and their families is a continually diminishing quantity.  From my 
standpoint, I don't think there are necessarily ethical problems with 
determining, as a threshold issue, who will and who won't fit the service 
model.

I think you would have a different result if this were, let's say, a medical 
problem where a procedure had to be rationed between two individuals, one of 
whom you knew ahead of time would die without the procedure.

The contingencies here are rather hypothetical and one could argue that the 
success of the program was more likely for those participants who had not 
previously suffered disruption in placement.

It's just a thought.  I am not an ethicist.  So take this for what it's worth.