Frederic G. Reamer
Frederic G. Reamer has been a professor in the graduate program of the School of Social Work, Rhode Island College, since 1983. His research and teaching have addressed a wide range of human service issues, including mental health, health care, criminal justice, public welfare, and professional ethics.
Dr. Reamer chaired the national task force that wrote the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics and served on the code revision task force. He chaired the international commission sponsored by the Association of Social Work Boards to develop Model Regulatory Standards for Technology and Social Work Practice, and also chaired the national task force sponsored jointly by the NASW, ASWB, Council on Social Work Education, and Clinical Social Work Association to develop Technology Standards in Social Work Practice.
An expert witness and consultant in 117 court and licensing board cases addressing professional ethics, Dr. Reamer received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and served as a social worker in correctional and mental health settings. He taught at University of Chicago and University of Missouri-Columbia and was adjunct professor and visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, Tulane University, Simmons College, Smith College, University of Oklahoma, and Augsburg University.
He lectures extensively worldwide on professional ethics, malpractice, and liability.
Dr. Reamer served as director of the National Juvenile Justice Assessment Center of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; as senior policy advisor to the Governor of Rhode Island; and as a commissioner of the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation. In addition to serving on the Rhode Island Parole Board, he was as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Social Work Education and is associate editor of the National Association of Social Workers Encyclopedia of Social Work.
Q&A: Ethics in the Time of COVID-19
Do you think the COVID-19 pandemic is causing more practitioners to experience ethical dilemmas’?
Dr. Reamer: There is no question that COVID-19 has introduced novel and challenging ethical dilemmas for social workers. I have been inundated with requests for consultation from social workers throughout the U.S. and abroad who are scrambling to serve clients remotely now that face-to-face services are not possible.
I am consulting with social workers about challenging informed consent, confidentiality, boundary, licensing, and documentation issues that are unique to provision of online and distance services. I address many of these issues in this new publication: https://titles.cognella.com/ethics-and-risk-management-in-online-and-distance-social-work-9781793517746, which is scheduled for release in May.
Also see: https://www.socialworktoday.com/news/eoe_0320.shtml
Is the pandemic prompting you to add or emphasize anything in particular in your May 1 workshop for NASWVA?
Dr. Reamer: I plan to emphasize these issues during the workshop, including ethical challenges associated with social workers' use of technology to (1) communicate with clients remotely (e.g. text, smartphone apps, video), (2) deliver services remotely (e.g., video, smartphone, email, text), and (3) manage and store information electronically.
How can the NASW Code of Ethics be of particular importance during crises as wide as the pandemic and as narrow as with a single client?
Dr. Reamer: “I chaired the task force that wrote the NASW Code of Ethics adopted in 1996 and recently worked with several colleagues to add 19 new standards that are directly related to technology use (we also revised a number of other standards). I address these issues in https://www.naswpress.org/publications/Ethics/Ethical_Standards_in_Social_Work.html
“I also chaired the national task force that created these new practice standards to which social workers will be held when they use technology: https://www.socialworkers.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=lcTcdsHUcng%3d&portalid=0”
Do you see the recent expansion of telehealth as raising the importance of ethics for licensed clinical social workers and, if so, in what ways?
Dr. Reamer: “Licensed Virginia social workers are now held to new ethics standards and new practice standards (see above). Also, they must comply with relevant federal and Virginia laws, including social work licensing laws, which I will highlight May 1. Virginia social workers who provide services remotely to clients who live in other jurisdictions (e.g., DC, Maryland, and elsewhere) must comply with laws governing the locations where clients reside. In some instances, social workers must be licensed in the jurisdiction where the client is located; this varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.”
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Awards and Publications:
Dr. Reamer has received many awards for his social work contributions, including the "Distinguished Contributions to Social Work Education" award from the Council on Social Work Education; NASW Presidential Award; Richard Lodge Prize from Adelphi University; NASW International Rhoda G. Sarnat Award; NASW Excellence in Ethics Award; and inaugural ASWB Contributor Award. In 2016 Dr. Reamer was named a Social Work Pioneer by NASW for his "commitment and dedication to the social work profession and to the improvement of social and human conditions at the local, state, national, and international levels."
Dr. Reamer has conducted extensive research on professional ethics, much of it published in his 21 books and more than 150 journal articles and book chapters:
Dr. Reamer is also the author of chapters on professional ethics in the Encyclopedia of Social Work, Encyclopedia of Bioethics, Encyclopedia of Global Ethics, Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics, Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development, and Encyclopedia of Primary Prevention and Health Promotion. He has been an essayist on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition (“This I Believe” series), a commentator on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and a guest on various radio and television broadcasts.
Since 2007 Dr. Reamer has served as host and producer of the National Public Radio series This I Believe—New England, broadcast weekly. He is featured in the Yahoo News national series Unfiltered and as a commentator in the video documentaries America’s Serial Killers: Portraits in Evil and Rampage: Killing without Reason. He is also a featured expert on the PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) series This Emotional Life.
